Interesting photos to compare. I’d never thought of the RF-4E’s not getting the smokeless engine mods.
So does the HAF plan to replace them soon or what is planned in that area?
Seems like the Turks see a use for their photo-Phantoms for quite a bit longer, which I think is great.
They are to be replaced by F-16 Block 52+ equipped with removable reconnaisanse pods, DB-110 by Goodrich. These pods were already certified on Polonian Block 52s, thus making their selection pretty obvious. HAF has order 2+2 pods, more orders to follow, 4 pods is an extremely small number for HAF’s needs.
There is simply no room in HAF for such a specialised airplane, the era of multi role fighters was late for HAF, but has come… RF-4Es are simply obsolete. They can do nothing but photorecon and some ELINT and even for that they cannot selfdefend, thus requiring escorts. Plus they are expensive to maintain and require a two-man crew, a pure luxury nowadays for HAF…
Turkey on the other hand has much more reconnaisance needs, in its anti-PKK warfare and “elsewhere”. But make no mistake, there is an expiry date for THK’s RF-4s too, they are also quite old frames. They will stay around only untll THK manages to induce a sufficient number of UAVs during the next years. The same with other RF-4 users, if any.
I’m also curious about the HAF’s RF-4E’s.
HAF bought eight RF-4Es as part of Peace Icarus FMS procurement in the late seventies (delivered in early eighties) which formed the basis of 348 tactical reconnaisance squadron Matia (Eyes). These were supplemented by 27 additional RF-4Es from Luftawaffe surplus. Most of them however were scrapped as spare parts. Today there are just over 10 in operational service with 348 sqn IIRC.
In Greek service they are equipped with the french made ELINT-SIGINT pod ASTAC which however is not certified for real time data relay with the RF-4. They were originally purchased for french made Mirage F-1s, but, what a surprise, the French were not thrilled to see them work with non french birds… Finally, they are typically equipped with LOROP KS-127A cameras and AAD-5 infrared sensors. There was an upgrade program to get new cameras, but it was a failure. Here is an article in greek on that:
They have NOT received engine upgrades like Peace Icarus 2000 examples, thus they remain highly smoky. Take a look and pick the odd one out: 😀
Especially visible on this pic, bottom left an RF-4E and right next to it, a PI2000: :dev2:
http://www.haf.gr/el/structure/units/ata/units/348mta.asp
http://www.haf.gr/el/mission/weapons/weapon.asp?id=6
Two examples have crashed in recent years, one in 2008 and one in 2006, pilots safe in all cases. Finally, the only female fighter pilot (and one of the two female pilots) in HAF is assigned to RF-4Es, 1st Lt. Ioanna (Joan) Crisavgi:
http://teleytaiothranio.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post_522.html
http://www.diplomatia.gr/index.php?module=column&clid=35&aid=107
http://www.tanea.gr/default.asp?pid=2&ct=1&artid=80921
from ARES-Blog …
Beautiful, thanks for sharing. We already have the upper side, I think this scheme is very neat, though I would expect it all grey from beneath.
:DThat’s gripen Demo, not Gipen NG.
Yeah, well. The same goes for everything else out there currently or previously in the fase of development, including but not limited to: F-35, YF-23, Rafale Fx, Typhoon and so on. Before January 29 you could easily call PAK-FA a paper/fictional-plane and be well undisputed, not the case anymore.
The Gripen NG has not been a paper plane since April/June 2008, when it was presented to the public, made its first flight and secured corporate/state funding. End of story.
This is a paper plane:
There are ~ 5 F35 in tests. No NG yet. So, F 35 is not fictional (on paper). NG is. For now.
So, to your mind, only serial production planes can be classified as “non-fictional”, thus making every demonstrator/test plane a product of imagination, including the F-35 you mentioned.
Thanks for sharing your views. 🙂
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