https://youtu.be/z2M1YMqXYTI

Further to that video is this site where the content and interviews came from, http://airman.dodlive.mil/2016/04/the-perfect-storm/

Some great info on the test & eval process including the following,

Regardless of the public climate toward the airframe – good or bad — Hayes is not inclined to make the aircraft look “more shiny” to justify the cost. Ensuring the safety and optimal operational capability of any aircraft before it is delivered to combat squadrons is the bedrock goal of every operational flight test. Test pilots, like Hayes, do their job with intensity and focus in order to deliver the best aircraft to the nation’s warfighters. Pushing an aircraft to its limits and beyond and delivering an uncompromising assessment of its performance, is a not just a job, but a responsibility to their fellow pilots, some of whom are friends.

“As a fighter pilot and an operational test pilot, I will never make something look good that’s not,” Hayes said. “I don’t want anybody ever to call me back and say, ‘Why didn’t you catch this?’ or, ‘Why didn’t you find this one problem on the airplane?’ I’m usually one of the first guys to raise my hand and say something is not right about this, and we need to get it fixed.

“My pay is not affected one bit by the end result of a test report or a test flight,” he added. “My sole charge in life is to go out and either find ways to break the airplane or find ways to make the airplane break the thing on the ground that it’s supposed to.”

Just to backtrack a bit. If the RAF is retaining the T1 till 2040 then the F35 is not replacing the Typhoon in RAF service.

If the T1 is being retained for more than the near term, then that commitment to 138 F35s in the sdsr was indeed a commitment not to cancel any at this stage rather than a commitment to buy?

The two airframes are likely to fulfil very different roles so I’m not sure if one will be at the expense of the other.

Saying that, what could happen is any future F-35B purchase could come as a result of the Bee pushing the T2/3s out of the ground attack role and they subsequently pushing the T1s out of the Air Defence/Interception role. The T2/3s will have the better radar and longer range AAM than the T1s and the Bee will be purchased all the way through the 2020s.
The current plan is great now but come 2025, with full CAPTOR-E capability on the T2/3s and full F-35 blk 4 capability and longer range from a new engine option, I think it will be very tempting to remove the T1s from service.

But budget wins and everything depends on how the UK economy is fairing. If things are not going well in the 2020s, it is quite conceivable that the T1s will be retired early and fewer Bees are acquired.

Another week and another production line move to India story, this time more info on a potential F/A-18 SH sale linked to Defence Secretary Carter’s visit to India.

India is considering plans to produce American F18 fighter jets in India with Tata as the main indigenous supplier, according to sources in the Ministry of Defence. The proposed sale is still in early stages. It will be discussed and drafted during the visit of US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to India. US-based defence manufacturer Lockheed had proposed the sale of F16 IN aircraft to India, but it was blocked by the Indian Air Force because of the single engine nature of the aircraft and Lockheed’s ties with Pakistan. The F18s also give the ministry another option to choose from if it is not able to agree on the terms with France for the Rafale jets.

“There are a lot of important issues on agenda during Carter’s visit. These talks are in very early stages. They will need to be discussed and drafted during his visit and only then we can move forward. But the Rafale deal is not the reason for looking towards the F18s. We had agreed with the US to help develop our fifth generation AMCA planes. The F18 deal will help. It will give interoperability and compatibility. So there are good takeaways if things work out. But these things take years to materialise. It’s very early to say anything,” an MoD source said. Questioned whether the jets, if cleared, will be built indigenously, the source said: “There have been solid talks with the Tatas to be the indigenous supplier. Initial talks have been about the jets to be built in India.”

With India and France not able to come to a price agreement on the French Rafale aircraft, some people are of the opinion that the F18 deal will act as a fallback cushion. Also, if India ends up purchasing both the F18 and the Rafales, there would be possible logistical nightmares since pilots will have to be trained on separate platforms. Ammunition incompatibility will be an issue. This will also mean that there will be no scope for interoperability. The one big positive of the F18 over the Rafale is that the F18 supports Indian and Israeli air-to-air missiles.

US major Boeing, which makes the F18 aircraft, has cultivated sound relations with India over the past several years. The recent inking of AH64 and CH47 deals along with Boeings memorandum of understanding with TATA are good examples to back that. F18 IN, the fighter aircraft offered to India by Boeing, is an advanced variant of the F18 E/F version. The IN version also has larger Indian sub components installed that will allow the aircraft to carry Indian and Israeli made weapons and payloads.
Sources didn’t reveal exactly how many aircraft will be built in India. However, no delays are expected by both sides as was seen earlier. Sources say that the Department of Defence Production allows quicker negotiations and also faster contract agreements.

Many options available in the F18 aircraft can also be used in the Indian made Tejas and the upcoming Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme of India’s HAL. The AMCA will be a fifth generation fighter aircraft. The powerful F414 jet engine by GE is crucial for the AMCA to reach optimal capabilities. Also, the need of the F414 engine numbers may go over 3,000 over the next two decades. General Electric has already signed a contract with an Indian manufacturer to produce those engines in India.

The F18 is also certified to be operated from aircraft carriers. It can be operated from the upcoming IAC 2 carrier. One of the more advanced variants of the F18, the FA18 G is also on offer, which is a good choice for dedicated jamming. It has been the Air Force’s long-standing requirement to operate a dedicated airborne squadron for long distance jamming and to alert threats after retiring the MiG 25.
The F18 jet is a multi-role aircraft, akin to the French Rafale. It carries a wide variety of ammunition and more number of weapons than the Rafale. The F18 IN will come with advanced modern AESA radar AN/APG 79 made by Raytheon. The new F18 also comes with advanced modern AESA radar AN/APG 79 made by Raytheon. The jet will have 11 hard points that will allow it to carry a greater number of air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-ship missiles and bombs. It will also be capable of being equipped with modern missiles like AIM 120 D, JDAM taken from the Indian Hornet jet.

The F18 has advanced avionics, electronic warfare and jamming suites, towed decoys et al. It costs less than the Rafale also in terms of weapons and acquisitions. But the Rafale leads the way in terms of pilot impression, according to testing charts put out by the Air Force, and less operating and maintenance cost.

http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/4007-f18-jets-could-be-made-india

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is to field as a separate air defence force the Tranche 1 (T1) Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft that are to be retained in service beyond their original retirement date.

The 24 T1 aircraft that were extended from 2019 to the wider Typhoon out-of-service date (OSD) of 2040 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) of November 2015 will be formed into two distinct air defence squadrons, rather than being mixed with other T2 and T3 aircraft in other multirole units, Deputy Commander of Operations Air Marshal Greg Bagwell told reporters on 30 March.

“The issue was how to operate the Tranche 1 alongside the Tranche 2 and 3 as there is very little spares commonality between them, so it was decided that the plan [should be] for two new squadrons of Tranche 1 Typhoons,” AM Bagwell said.

Given the software limitations of the T1, the RAF has decided not to try and upgrade these particular platforms with the Phase Enhancement upgrade packages that will afford the T2 and T3 platforms with the full swing-role capability set. As such, they will be used solely for air defence duties, and perhaps for adversarial air combat training for other RAF aircraft types.

I’m not convinced. While it will be good to have dedicated air defence units how supportable are these aircraft going to be 10-15 years form now. Surely they will be the low hanging fruit to cut away for cost reasons in future SDRs given their orphan nature?

Will the existing radar and other systems be upgraded at all or will the T1s remain in their current state and all upgrade funding go to the T3s?

Yes but sustained performance is still very relevant in multi bogey scenarios, incl. BVR. In a more traditional WVR encounter 1 vs 1 you would nowadays favour ITR and nose pointing when combined with HOBS AAMs.

Agree, was more referencing the change in WVR combat that had seen surprise and sustained turn rates as the two biggest factors since WW1 be eclisped by HOBS technology.

The F-15SA has seen an alarming delayed deployment..
Boeings “walk of shame”..

Hardly a walk of shame but an excellent example of why retrofitting avionics to an existing airframe is easier said than done…

I still fail to see importance of the sustained turn rates as I think that nobody fights this way, yet for us they still are an useful parameter to judge the dynamic performance of a design vs its peers.

If there was anything wrong, feel free to correct me.. Thanks

Sustained turn rates were the metric to grade a fighter jet on before HOBS missiles and HMS. That change has made instantaneous turn rates, and correspondingly AoA, significantly more important. The pilot can now shoot across the circle instead of having to be within the +-30 deg seeker view angle of the AIM-9M (for example).

Have you hear nothing in the last TEN years about metric wavelenght radars?
Actual AEW radars can detect and track stealth aircrafts with enough precision to allow ARH missiles to be fired against it, with a way lesser hit ratio than against normal ones but still enought to make the mission pattern F-22 was developed around i.e. I repeat loitering over enemy controlled territory in order to achieve Air dominancejust impossible to even try.
it doesn’t mean that stealth aircraft would became useless, just that the extra features that Raptor have when compared to other VLO aircrafts such the 360°degree stealth coverage, flat nozzles, receve only link 16 and all other that have made its cost and complexity skyrocket are just not .justified at all.
So, if you think it is not like i said, you have just to ask US MoD why they have stopped their production at 187 and plan instead to keep in service 190+ 40 years old F-15C.

When you have a better understanding of how the US would fight a conflict with an adversary that has AEW radars that may have some capability at detecting stealth aircraft you will comprehend that achieving air dominance is not as insurmountable as you think.

Stopping production of F-22 at 187 had nothing to do with an increased chance of being detected and everything to do with a high acquisition cost and a near crippling per hour operating cost.