I’m pretty sure the original speculation was 21 meters
It’s a shame the F.1 wasn’t developed with an M88 to give a parallel paradigm to the earlier Mirage III derivatives like the Mirage 5, 50, and Milan. Nothing threatening Rafale orders, but something to undercut Gripen and MiG sales.
That would have to be the result of, “separate negotiations, if at all”.
It’s pointless to argue with your know-it-all self. The 36 Rafale contract is a bridge to future orders with or without technology transfer. It’s not an MRCA contract
That’s lot of fiberglass being used in Iran
Stonk Spirits of The Aether
No there is not, but I bet it does offer an avenue to cut red tape for more government to government purchases outside the MRCA deal
And chasing high subsonic speed targets down in a Hawk 200 was not exactly a winning proposition
djcross is correct. Get it built for this purpose without distractions. Then adapt later if appropriate.
Europe, perhaps instead of France, might have been better off if they could have figured out how to get some kind of hi-lo mix to develop for partners. France was satisfied with a lighter fighter and I’m not so sure Eurofighter couldn’t have been just as successful as it was only built with a common engine to the Rafale. If they could have got Sweden to cooperate to run Gripen off the same engine core, well then everyone benefits even more.
But ever since the end of the Cold War we’ve seen anything save for cooperation among European partners. Eurofighter wasn’t anywhere as successful as it could have been. Rafale has been too expensive for the French. And Sweden found even Gripen a bit more expensive than they had hoped.
If everyone had rallied around a common M88-size core then much of the problematic nature of developing several engines could have been avoided. And because so many different countries used the same engine, it would have made the choice to operate common overhaul depots all that much easier to coordinate.
J-20 seems more similar to a twin engine J-10 than a copy of MiG 1.42
We already have an IRST mounted on fuel tanks. Mandate compatible linkage and viola
How about the Hongdu L-15 crossed with the Textron Scorpion?[ATTACH=CONFIG]248495[/ATTACH]
It’s exactly why there is an improvement, because of control authority of the design. That, and automated flight computers keeping it stable.
Think how easy it would be to tail slide and flip end for end without control authority to hold your CLmax
I noticed:
. – the main gear door prevent a volume expansion of the inlets downward refraining future possibility for a modified/ swapped engines)
. – the long hinge used for the canopy looks frail for 40+ year of usage (but what we see could be simply a protective cover over multiple smaller hinges).
. – fowler flap (?)
In contrast the Textron Scorpion separated the engines into pods that actually seem to be separate from the fuselage, wings, and possibly even the tail structure. The Alpha Jet probably is the only recent trainer that seemed concerned with engines being replaceable.

From another view you can see the downside is Textron went for a very draggy design considering their target speed was entirely subsonic.

The T-38 was a slim design in comparison

Why?, it is still a thermal system is it not?
It’s very limited in spectrum, hence utility is limited. It can have the biggest lens in the world, but if it cannot see the correct IR spectrum then it’s useless… It’s to what colorblind is to vision.