British military scrambles to speed up work on hypersonic engines, weapons

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/07/18/british-military-scrambles-to-speed-up-work-on-hypersonic-engines-weapons/

Bulgaria approves F-16 purchase

Approval from the council of ministers was obtained on 10 July, with the agreement likely to be put before the country’s parliament next week.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/bulgaria-approves-f-16-purchase-459581/

Croatia kicks off MRCA procurement process

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/204303/croatia-kicks-off-fighter-procurement-process.html

I hope their budget will only only cover something Russian or a light single-engine fighter eg F-16, Gripen, F/A-50. I find it tedious when everyone under the sun is involved in a selection process where the customer cannot possibly afford a medium western twin or F-35.

Sweden, Japan, Italy and Turkey have been among the countries touted as being potential partners for a program aimed at seeing the first aircraft flying around 2035.

Mark Goldsack, the director of the UK government’s defense and security export organization, told media at the Paris Air Show recently that the British were holding discussions about joining the program with at least a dozen countries.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/07/07/sweden-to-join-british-tempest-next-gen-fighter-push/

So talking to Sweden, Japan, Italy and Turkey is no surprise but at least 8 more countries? Apart from possibly Korea I cannot think who else might be interested in joining the Tempest programme. Any ideas, anyone?

Airbus, Boeing indicate they may pull out of Canada fighter jet race – sources

Boeing and Airbus have now formally written to Ottawa expressing concerns about the current requirements, said two sources familiar with the matter who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the situation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c…-idUSKCN1U32EX

Sweden showing an interest in participating in Tempest.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/07/07/sweden-to-join-british-tempest-next-gen-fighter-push/

Typhoon AESA:

Eurofighter AESA radar delay impacts competitiveness

The status of Eurofighter’s future AESA radar, however, remains murky, and it is not even mentioned in Eurofighter’s June 20 statement on the LTE study.

Clearly, studying how to keep Eurofighter operationally relevant “for decades to come” without replacing its 20-year old mechanically-scanned radar leaves a glaring gap in its market credibility, yet Eurofighter continues to evade the issue.

At a press conference at the Paris Air Show on Wednesday, Eurofighter officials refused to say when, and if, the Leonardo Captor-E active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar developed for Eurofighter will be procured by the four partner nations.

Company spokesman Adam Morrison dismissed a question about the status of Captor-E by saying that “all things come in good time,” and refused follow-up questions. He later added that there might be some good news regarding the radar at some unspecified, future time.

His position is in line with Eurofighter’s long-standing evasiveness about the status of the Captor-E radar. Companies working on the program refer questions to Eurofighter, which is the nominal customer, but Eurofighter brushes off unwelcome questions with the claim that “We cannot provide any further details at this point for reasons of commercial sensitivity.”

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/feature/203668/aesa-radar-still-lacking-as-eurofighter-looks-to-future-improvements.html

When the Swiss competition started for the second time I did not think Eurofighter had much of a chance of being selected Now I think they have no chance at all.

a lower cost Gripen C/D NG might have been acceptable

Didn’t you mean that? The E frenzy was devoid of much logic.

You referred to Gripen C as the low cost option. I think the E version will cost far less to fly for 6000 hours than all the others. Perhaps in the region of $10K CPFH rather than closer to $20K CPFH for the twins and in excess of $20K CPFH for F-35.