To be Shell(e)y or not stealthy ….
sry đź
Cruise Missile have no support and use terrain masking in order to:
1:be cheaper than a fully stealthy airframe
2: have no need for aerial support like CAP or TARCAP
The main idea is to lessen any needed support to use at best the element of surprise and be affordable enough for a massive strike. That’s why you still have an early 1980 design like the 86. But don’t forget that a cruise missile strike is a ONE WAY mission.
Well, not really in, more aside. The proposed re-worked pitched bi-national agreement is outside the frame of the deal now considered by the Fr too favorable to the [stealthy] F35.
Notably, the standard offered is that of an advanced Rafale version “beyond” those actually discussed.
@Halloweene
– Contract with India includes the generation of the so said map.
– France have admitted in the past that it did not have all the required data for the theater where the Rafale was deployed. Well, nobody would have bothered of this. Totally understandable.
– The recent increases of sat intel cap is also there to cover the need
You are confusing data harvesting and real time routing that is generally done with radar or optical analysis. It has nothing to do with generating in real time a broad list of route for a deployed squadron.
Omni-Rafale had the same “problem” – that includes low level routing. I am not even sure that all customers have all the MDF they could need today.
Let’s move on.
US Air Force completes first round of light attack aircraft demo
It was notably hinted that the Scorpion could also fulfill a Tanker role for aircraft or unmanned vehicles.
Textron spokeswoman Sylvia Pierson also noted that its Scorpion jet has the payload and ground clearance necessary to use it for tanking missions. However, âwe have not yet received any customer requirements to integrate and demonstrate this capability,â she said.
Source:
DefenseNews.com
US Air Force completes first round of light attack aircraft demo
Notice:
[U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson:] “[…]some of the light aircraft that weâve seen do have refueling capabilities. Some donât, so I think that will be one of the factors to consider.â
Although none of the entrants in the light attack aircraft experiment can currently act as a tanker, two of them could conduct some refueling operations if modified, company officials told Defense News.
The Canadian version of the AT-802 â a commercial crop duster, not the weaponized Longsword version â has a supplemental type certificate allowing it to carry fuel in an external tank, said Tom Menker, Air Tractorâs head of government relations and business development.
Air Tractor also has begun work that would allow an AT-802U â a militarized version of the platform that is a predecessor to the Longsword â use its hard points to carry refueling pods capable of filling unmanned aerial vehicles, he said.
Textron spokeswoman Sylvia Pierson also noted that its Scorpion jet has the payload and ground clearance necessary to use it for tanking missions. However, âwe have not yet received any customer requirements to integrate and demonstrate this capability,â she said.
Strategic forces consumes 30% of the total procurement budget in 2017…
Years ago, I asked myself the same question on a public forum dedicated to the Rafale (a very famous one among Fr blogger). The end result was that the cost of the Rafale per taxpayer top that of the F22 + F35 buy in the US by a non-negligible margin that can however be attributed to French aspiration of having a self sustained industry (even if that is not absolutely correct when you start digging in the network of subcontractor and IP losses during the years). The drawback (aside of the enormous sink in budget capabilities) is the absence of stealth.
La France a annoncĂ© mardi qu’elle allait se doter de drones armĂ©s Ă l’horizon 2019, rejoignant ainsi un club de plus en plus dense comprenant notamment les Etats-Unis, IsraĂ«l et la Grande-Bretagne. “J’ai dĂ©cidĂ© d’engager le processus d’armement de nos drones de renseignement et de surveillance”, a dĂ©clarĂ© la ministre des ArmĂ©es, Florence Parly,
———
France stated that it will start arming their drones in 2019, joining a restricted group of country that includes the US, Israel and the UK. “I took the decision to begin the process of arming French’s ISR drones”, declared the Fr defense ministry, Florence Parly.
The 6 Reaper due to be induced in 2019 would be fitted with that capability as will the future MALE drone developed in conjunction with Italy, Germany and Spain (expected in 2025)
Edit:
on DefenseNews.com: France to arm military surveillance drones
Source:
ParisMatch.com
Clearly, the Israeli return of experience should have shut down this OT debate. Thank you VNomad for that excellent (pinpointed) quote.
Shark mouths – Taiwan
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Taipei, June 13 [2015] (CNA) Two of the fighter jets to participate in Taiwan’s military display in July have been painted with historic icons as part of the events marking the 70th anniversary of the Republic of China’s victory over Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The eight-year war against Japan (1937-1945) was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis Powers were defeated.
The two fighters will be among more than 20 aircraft to participate in a flyover at the military display set for July 4 at an army base in Hukou, Hsinchu County.
Fighters painted with special designs are a U.S.-made F-16 jet fighter and a locally developed Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jet.
On the F-16, there is a cartoon flying tiger caricature painted on the side, along with a shark’s mouth on the nose of the fighter, to remember the contributions of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) to the ROC’s fight against Japan.
Better known as the Flying Tigers, the group, which existed from 1941-1942, was comprised of American military pilots and commanded by Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault.
The F-16 fighter also has a painting of 16 Japanese national flags on the side, representing the number of Japanese planes shot down by Robert Neale, head of the AVG’s 1st Squadron, Taiwan’s Air Force said.
Similarly, a shark’s mouth is seen on the side of the IDF and 12 stripes of blue and white — a symbol of 12 rays of the sun on the ROC national flag — are depicted on the tail of the fighter. The paintings symbolize the Chinese-American Composite Wing, a joint U.S.-ROC air force unit, which existed from 1943-1945, the Air Force said. It added that it is aimed at demonstrating the friendship between the two countries in the war.
On the side of the IDF are five Japanese national flags, representing the number of Japanese aircraft shot down by Maj. Gen. Hsu Hua-chiang (ćŸèŻæ±), a ROC pilot in a squadron in the Chinese American Composite Wing, according to the Air Force.
Source:
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/taiwan-military-photos-videos-ii.t6313/page-2
@TomcatVIP
regarding #28
also on this you like to win easy, full deltas are notoriously plane that are optimized to high quote high speed.
Now certainly FBW (another feature that entered first time in european air force thank to the Tornado) and canards can help into expanding the flight envelope but one thing is to be able to fly at certain quotes and regimes, another is to made it confortably and in a way that is militarly convenient.Now, no one want here to deny F-35 capabilities in the A2G role, let be sure that we wouldn’t have accepted him as a Tornado substitute if our AF wouldn’t has been more than confident of its capabilities on such a field but just remind how we are talking about a plane of the late seventies/early eighties compared to one of the late 2K and 10.
And still some capabilities that the Tornado actually assure would not be taken over by the same F-35 but transferred to the Typhoon or to the new UAV 2025.
Absolutely. I totally agree. As VNomad wrote, my answer was oriented toward the opposition made by some b/w the Stealth capabilities of the new affordable generation of airframe and low level flying. Just as if the later could be a valid substitute for the former.
It is clear that the Tornado dominated the low level envelope in Eu. It was not perfect and had some corner of the envelope contested by other airframe. It would be interesting to compare those relative performances.
As I said, there is nothing to prevent a stealth fighter to go down low.
With its high mach cruise and small wings an F35 should even technically do better there than most delta.
true that Stealth wasn’t that much affordable until now. But here we are. 2017, a new century with new threat and a balance of technologies that layers the density of threats.
I am not criticizing any airframe, nor the Tornado. Going fast down low was in everybody minds at the time. I am criticizing the fact that some have made out of a deficiency a doctrine for tomorrow. Young pilots would have to endure their statically ineluctable torments comforted, I guess: Bright minds (often older) follow them with a plan… from far behind.