Because Bright Adder was already pretty far advanced when the Quadrinational AESA programme lumbered into life, I get the feeling that its remit was widened. It offered the opportunity to get an early look at the repositioner and at other AESA features, long before the Quadrinational programme could provide flying hardware. And for the Brits, Bright Adder started to look like an excellent insurance policy if the Quadrinational programme faltered, or if it looked as though it would not deliver the capabilities required by the UK.

Two steps to easy integration:
1. Add UAI support to next Blk batch (Fighter Mfg does this)
2. Add UAI to whatever weapon you have (Weapon Mfg does this)

Problem solved.

They’re looking at data driven weapons.

sorry, I’m having a slow day today (mentally at least), but are Eurofighter integrating any of these weapons at the moment or are they all possibilities if a customers wants it?

I hate to sound a bit like a Rafale fan :o:(:eek:, but we have seen Typhoons (years ago) with weapons underwing that still are not integrated…….

Until recently, the situation was that the only way that weapons could be integrated on Typhoon was as part of the core quadrinational programme.

All such integrations had to be funded by NETMA (and thus by the partner nations) and there was no scope for Industry to fund any such work itself, for the export programme.

That core quadrinational programme in turn relied on agreement between all four partner nations, whose priorities and timetables all vary, and thus the order and timing of weapons integrations have to be reconciled and thrashed out.

And even the ‘enthusiasts’ for A-G capabilities on Typhoon (and especially for advanced/complex weapons) do not need them (and do not want to pay for the cost of integrating them) for some years, since they already have Tornados in service.

Make no mistake, if you were able to roll up to Coningsby on Monday and present them with a fully cleared, fully integrated Storm Shadow, they’d have no use for it for years. Air-to-air, QRA, the Falklands and a smidgeon of basic A-G is more than enough to keep the three frontline squadrons fully-occupied. 17 might play with it, and do some useful work, but actually it would be viewed as a bit of a nuisance. An unwelcome distraction, even.

The RAF simply don’t have a fleet of Mirage 2000s to share the AD role with, to take a turn on QRA, etc. If that has to be done (and it does), only the Typhoon can do it.

Though the UK’s CP193 showed that a single-nation weapons integration was possible, it did still require the permission of the other partner nations, who could have vetoed it had they felt that it would have diverted resources (eg development aircraft, IPAs, test aircrew and personnel) from core programme activities.

All of this has made it hard for EF GmbH to integrate weapons before they are needed by the core programme partner nations, even though their lack may have (must have?) damaged the aircraft’s prospects in various export campaigns.

Dassault have had it easier, because most of the weapons export customers want were also urgently wanted by the domestic customer.

That’s the ‘history’, and finally (too late?) things are changing, though we’re only learning about this now. Belatedly there seems to be a recognition that while the RAF (say) might not need Storm Shadow until (say) 2018, export customers might need that capability earlier.

Weapons not required by the partner nations are already being integrated, and indeed at least one has already been integrated. The Saudi Tranche 2 jets are dropping LGBs and they don’t have any of the LGBs cleared by the partner nations for CP193 or CP210 (P1E), and indeed are doing so in advance of P1E. And now they’re apparently on the verge of integrating AASM Hammer.

Furthermore the recent Contract One signature now allows partner nations to integrate weapons outside the core programme, without any risk of such integration work being ‘vetoed’. The UK has already committed to integrating Brimstone and Storm Shadow and will do so independently via this route if it has to.

Zoller now says that export customers will have the same ability to push the pace of weapons integrations, even if the weapon required is not a priority for the partner nations.

And as it has done with AESA development, industry has self-funded some forward development work on advanced air-to-ground capabilities in support of the export campaign.

The ‘radome’ aft of the belly radome is the hatch for Provincial’s patented air drop system.

I’m trying to work out if the pencils are SLAR or MAD…..