what would be more interesting is if a third country could get any of those weapons to go along with the fighter.

Well in the end Typhoon will offer a european weapons fit and an american. So if you can´t get the US weapons, you still will get a good supply of european stuff.

And with the brits and Italians going to operate JSF + Typhoon, Typhoon will be ready to take state of the art US weapons for a long time.

glitter,

let me explain.

Look at AA stuff

Rafale : Mica, Magic, Meteor
Typhoon, Sidewinder, ASRAAM, IRIS-T, AMRAAM, Meteor

Anti-radiation missiles :

Rafale : no
Typhoon : ALARM, HARM

You can do the same with all other stuff. It is not that Rafale could not use any of those weapons, but some of them won´t be integrated, as they are not needed by France.
Typhoon will benefit from the fact that every partner nation will want to integrate their stuff. Compare a Mirage 2000D to a Tornado and tell me which can carry a wider range of a-g weapons. In th end the same will happen to Typhoon.

Once the upgraded F3 standard becomes available for export in 2006, it ought to boost sales, or at least make the Rafale more competitive on the market.

But Typhoon will also boost up weapons integration within Tranche 2. And imho in the end it will gain a clear lead over Rafale, simply because they have 4 (or 5) nations paying for the development, while France has to pay all alone.

Nope, they were training the first instructors at WTD61 in Manching. Now they will start with aircrew training at JG73. I think 2 double seaters flew to Lage today.

The German air force announced April 30 that it had officially put its first five Eurofighter jets into service in the northern city of Rostock.

The five aircraft, which will be used mainly for training purposes, were given to the Steinhoff fighter squadron based in Laage.

Germany, which was the first country to take delivery of the European-made fighter but the second — after Italy — to put it into service, has ordered 180 of the combat aircraft at a cost of 80 million euros ($95 million) each.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-role combat jet with a range of 2,500 kilometres (1,560 miles) and can be equipped with a mix of missiles, depending on its mission.

It is built by a four-nation consortium comprising the French-Spanish-German group EADS, Britain’s BAE Systems and Italy’s Alenia.

Britain has ordered 232 aircraft, Italy 121 and Spain 87. Last year Austria became the first nation outside the consortium to place an order, asking for 18. Greece has committed to 60 with an option for a further 30 aircraft.

Pluto,

you should see the german PAH-1 (MBO105) demo team. They do the same as the Apache but with 3 helicopters. It really amazing. The appear and disappear only for seconds. It was the best helicopter demo I have ever seen. Suddenly you see one to the right, the one to the left again, on the right, the first one again in the middle, etc..

Phantom noses :

YFH-1 : AN/APG 50 with test pitot probe
F-4H1 : AN/APG 50 + IR seeker
F-4A :(starting 18th aircraft : AN/APQ 72 + IR seeker
F-4B :AN/APG-72 + AAA-4IR
QF-4B : F-4B + radio control antenas
RF-4B : early nose
RF-4B : rounded nose after SLEP
EF-4C : F-4B + RWR antennas
RF-4C: different window siize the RF-4B
RF-4C : rounded
F-4D : AN/ALR-69(V)2 RHAW
EF-4D : AN/APS-107 under the nose
YF-4E: modified YRF-4C – ex F-4B with M61 sticking out of the Recce nose
F-4E : different MIDAS flash suppresoor variants (3 versions)
F-4FEJ Kai : new randome
F-4F ICE : new randome
F-4E (S) : LRORP camera
RF-4E : angular camera nose, different RWR to other RF versions
RF-4E : rounded nose
F-4G :AN/APR 38 RWR reciever
F-4J : F-4B without IR
F-4 J(UK) : F-4J without RWR antenna under the nose
YF-4K . large pitot probe
F-4M : large blade antenna under the nose

I count 25

“I told you, you can´t land on a lake with out floats”