Blackarcher

That is the TA-50 spec supplied to indonesia which is cheaper by usd 10 million compared to the FA-50, not the FA-50 itself.

What im saying is that the current full spec FA-50, with radar, rwr, datalink etc is capable to do 90% of what the gripen c/d can do.

As it is Austria is using a mix of typhoons and ancient saab 105OE for air policing. Remember Austria is a neutral country, and the main reason for it to have a fighter is for QRA and air policing.

Getting back to the TA-50, compared to a saab 105OE, it would hav no issues doing peacetime missions checking out unresponsive airliners, private jets etc. And as a training/LIFT aircraft, it has embedded training systems that could emulate the use of radar, rwr, weapons release without having actual weapons on the airplane, features unavailable in two seater gripen d.

To have the most economic yet capable fleet that could handle flight training and operational duties like air policing, probably a mixture of:

– 12 full spec FA-50 for QRA and air policing.
– 12 TA-50 for LIFT and limited air policing missions.

That number could be had for about usd 700-800 million.

No, the 10 “high efficiency trainer” aircraft would not be part of the operational fleet.

If that is the case, how on earth Austria would afford 24hour QRA + air policing with only Eurofighter Typhoons (looking at variant 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the options laid out) while still saving money compared to current operations?? Those calculations is not logical!

Right now with mixed use of Typhoon and 105OE, austria could only afford an average of 11 hours daytime QRA only.

from janes :

…an average of 11 daytime QRA hours will be operated flexibly, as “there will be days with 14 hours on readiness while on other days it will cease in the afternoon”…

…Given that this means just four to six Typhoons will be operational on any given day for a maximum of 1,070 hours per year for the whole fleet, the MoD confirmed that 12 of the surviving 22 44-year-old Saab 105ÖE jet trainers will have to soldier on as active air-surveillance assets to supplement the Eurofighters, flying a total of about 1,200 hours per year…

and

Sad story yes.
From 18 fully equipped jets for € 1959 Mio. to 15 hardly equipped jets for 1589 Mio. That’s 370 Mio. saved. Highly doubtful they’re going to find 18 new jets for that amount of money. 8 C/D Gripen for Bulgaria were something like 511 Mio.?

Remember, the FA-50 (as supplied to the Philippines) costs usd 35 million each and TA-50 (as supplied to Indonesia) costs usd 25 million each. The TA-50 specification as supplied to Indonesia, is as per FA-50, with internal gun and weapons capability but without radar, RWR, datalink system. The FA-50 as it is could probably give 90% of Gripen C/D capability and performance but at less than 50% of the cost.

Also, why would they need 10 trainers in options 1,2,3 (3 is my preferred option) when those trainers would not be a part of the operational force? 10 trainers for a force of 18 fighters / 36 pilots? 10 trainers is understandable if they need to cover part of the operational needs as in the reference model.

Right now they are using the saab 105 in air policing duties as a cheaper alternative to flying the typhoon for the task. Probably by keeping the typhoons the new trainer would also needed to do operational tasks like the saab 105 fleet?

Most of the sources only mention the requirement of all weather, day and night capable supersonic fighter armed with missile. No mention of beyond visual range capability.

The Korean jet on the other hand is not compatible with Austria’s IRIS-T, has no BVR capability and Austria would be the sole user in Europe thousands of km away from support.

Iris-t is designed to be fully interchangeable with any platform that is already fully cleared for the sidewinder.

As for BVR, i don’t know of any air policing missions that lets you kill unidentified contacts BVR. But if you need BVR capability

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As for support, this plane has also offered by Lockheed to Poland recently (but beaten by aermacchi). If austria buys it, surely it would be supported from US and korean bases.

The DART-450. Forgot about that plane. Quite interesting as it is said to cost cost 1/3 of the pc-9. The question is would it offer a complete training system (ground, simulated, embedded) like pilatus or other matured offerings?