Requierement for Low RCS leads to a fixed canted array, Thales prefered to focuse on keeping the frontal range under control (No range loss, wide bandwidth) and accepted a slight increas in RCS since the array is now quanted.

A rotating array, quanted will always have a high RCS spot but at variable angle, it might also results in a very small difference, it is in fact two different systems.

You have to understand that it’s not a must to rotate. I believe that the antenna just rotates if the pilot commands it to do so or in specific modes such as AG etc. It doesn’t mean the antenna will be rotating all the time. So while there might be a RCS penalty when the antenna moves it’s not necessarily moving all the time and therefore doesn’t necessarily increase RCS at all times. The gains are still outweighting the penalties.

Data from the flight recorder of the rafale M that crashed last month seems to indicate that the accident was due to a pilot error.

http://secretdefense.blogs.liberation.fr/defense/2009/11/accident-du-rafale-lanalyse-de-la-boite-noire-conclut-%C3%A0-un-facteur-humain.html

Not really surprising. Have they found the FDRs of both aircraft?

Good but not exeptional (a Rafale does it at Max TOW and passes 360* rolls in the same configuration at 100 kt).

The problem of Typhoon is not so much the minimum speed (still lover than many concurent aircrafts) it is the landing speed; read at the proper AoA and vertical speed.

The aircraft is not navalizable to my eyes (even with TVC), the lift and low-speed/AoA characteristics aren’t there to allow for that, there is no safety margin in case of failure of one engine or TVC system and simply not enough lift to fly slower at more moderate AoA.

360° rolls at MTOW (24.5t) at just 100 kts?

The lowest landing speed of the Typhoon is about 135-140 kts, albeit pilots usually touch down with 150 – 160 kts to my undestanding. AoA is usually about 12° – 14°.

Rafale makes it at 120 kts with AoAs ~16° IIRC.

If course it costs more than $58 today, actually it is at $133 million today. Will the F-35 eventually get to $58 million (in 2008 dollars), yes.

According to the DoD the average cost, in 2002 dollars over the program lifetime, for a F-35A will be in the “upper $40 millions”. If the F-35 follows a conservative reduction plan of 15% per year (last year was 19%), 2011 will be at $113 and 2012 will be at $96 million.

Who cares about 2002 dollars in 2020? Were these aircraft payed in 2002? Certainly not!

I think it would be a good opportunity for other forces and the US to collect ELINT on the Rafale as well.

And it’s not like the US or others wouldn’t do that them self.

Key word there is supposedly which says alot, an awful lot.
Much like the F-15 vs Su-27 epic DACT tale. I don’t buy into either of the tales myself but I have no objection to others wishing it happened.

I selected that phrase due the doubts raised by many, albeit I have seen a very good collection of sources which are just pieces of the puzzle. But it seems that something has happened there. Most interesting is that while the US initially denied everything, they latter indirectly admitted it and the UK side never denied it at all, it was just more reluctant to comment.

I wonder why you guys can’t simply open an F-35 news thread rather than good or bad.

You might well be right.

Yes, the Fox3_PDFs release No5.

Job done.

NOT with the tank, it’s how we figure the drag loss of the 1.250 l supersonic tank, = 0.1 Mach.

Damn it, sometimes the answer is so close. Thanks, the issue states M 1.6 is cleared with 2 of them attached.