MH370?

Okay, I’ll get my tin foil hat.

I actually have a question on the engine. A BPR of 0.57 has been stated, however, AIR International say that 57% of the air goes into the bypass stream. Now that isn’t the same thing to my mind and would actually give a BPR of 0.57/0.43 = 1.33.

I was kind of excited by the idea of a small stealth aircraft with smaller A2A weapons. Kind of like POGO, except with a brain, if you will.

Most likely to “hide” the zig-zag doors as well as several smaller panels.

Zig-zag doors are nothing new.

Anyone noticed the high impact main landing gear ?

Don’t they normally use 2 wheels for carrier aircraft though. But then that would make sense for the blurring. Japan isn’t officially supposed to have aircraft carriers or be thinking of them.

In the model, it seems to have a split intake on both sides???

The size is a concern. Looking at the size of the ground crew next to it, it’s difficult to see it carrying more than 2 AMRAAMs internally.

For a stealth concept it’s strange to not notice some doors for weapon bays, do you think it’s possible they put it on top, in the rectangles between the wings and fuselage, or maybe it’s just airbrakes..?

Those two, if you’re looking at the same ones as me (last photo in multi-photo pic), seem too small. They’re only about the same length as the ground crew person at best, and he’s probably about 1m short of AIM-9 length.

I hope they don’t cancel CUDA.;) In fact that’s my best guess on armament. There doesn’t appear to be any provisions underneath, so perhaps it’s just going to be 4 CUDAs in those twin doors either side on top of the wings.

As regards the blurred bit in front of that, I’m going to make the bizarre guess of smaller short-range homing rockets for dog fighting, again using HTK technology.

I seem to remember some other improvements being explored a few years back as part of a Team Complex Weapons press release, I believe one of them may of mentioned an increase in range but I could be wrong.

Maybe there’ll be some kind of ESM capability for anti-shipping.

Possibly related news:

http://www.baesystems.com/article/BAES_175145/taranis-demonstrates-stealth-capabilities-in-second-phase-of-flight-trials?from=twitter-plc&_afrLoop=361635477912000&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D361635477912000%26from%3Dtwitter-plc%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D1a60i1oeqd_1543

Taranis – the most advanced aircraft ever built by British engineers – flew in a fully ‘stealthy’ configuration, making it virtually invisible to radar during this latest set of trials.

In order to achieve an unprecedented level of stealth, the team changed all antennas on the aircraft to signature control variants and the air data boom on the nose of Taranis was removed. Following these modifications Taranis used a specially-designed system which allowed the aircraft to generate a full set of flight data, without the use of an external probe or boom.

Taranis also used a cutting edge communications system to ensure it was able to stay in touch with its mission commander without giving away its position to the enemy.

Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne said: “The success of these test flights is an important milestone for the Taranis project. We are gaining vital insights into the potential of unmanned aircraft and this knowledge will shape future capabilities and help reduce the risks faced by military personnel on the frontline. I am determined to continue investing in these world-leading projects to show us the future, today.”

Speaking on behalf of industry, Nigel Whitehead, our Group Managing Director said: “The first flight of Taranis last year was a significant milestone for UK aviation and this latest development underlines the UK’ s lead in unmanned air systems. The engineering data gathered from the latest phase of trials will help us develop the stealth technologies on Taranis further.”

Conrad Banks, Rolls-Royce Chief Engineer – Research and Technology, Defence, added: “Successful propulsion integration was another key highlight of the second trial phase, with the fully embedded and ‘hidden’ Adour Mk951 engine operating flawlessly coupled with the highly complex and stealthy exhaust system.”

Taranis demonstrates stealth capabilities in second phase of flight trials

http://www.baesystems.com/article/BAES_175145/taranis-demonstrates-stealth-capabilities-in-second-phase-of-flight-trials?from=twitter-plc&_afrLoop=361635477912000&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D361635477912000%26from%3Dtwitter-plc%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D1a60i1oeqd_1543

Taranis – the most advanced aircraft ever built by British engineers – flew in a fully ‘stealthy’ configuration, making it virtually invisible to radar during this latest set of trials.

In order to achieve an unprecedented level of stealth, the team changed all antennas on the aircraft to signature control variants and the air data boom on the nose of Taranis was removed. Following these modifications Taranis used a specially-designed system which allowed the aircraft to generate a full set of flight data, without the use of an external probe or boom.

Taranis also used a cutting edge communications system to ensure it was able to stay in touch with its mission commander without giving away its position to the enemy.

Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne said: “The success of these test flights is an important milestone for the Taranis project. We are gaining vital insights into the potential of unmanned aircraft and this knowledge will shape future capabilities and help reduce the risks faced by military personnel on the frontline. I am determined to continue investing in these world-leading projects to show us the future, today.”

Speaking on behalf of industry, Nigel Whitehead, our Group Managing Director said: “The first flight of Taranis last year was a significant milestone for UK aviation and this latest development underlines the UK’ s lead in unmanned air systems. The engineering data gathered from the latest phase of trials will help us develop the stealth technologies on Taranis further.”

Conrad Banks, Rolls-Royce Chief Engineer – Research and Technology, Defence, added: “Successful propulsion integration was another key highlight of the second trial phase, with the fully embedded and ‘hidden’ Adour Mk951 engine operating flawlessly coupled with the highly complex and stealthy exhaust system.”

A lot of none**** to stay polite.
There are many ways to hamper the seeker-head of an AAM. The passive ones are all called stealth. At some distance or against a known threat internal carriage is not in need. The F-35 has an active EW-suit similar to the Rafale and by that the best of both worlds to choose from.

And because of the stealth it needs less electrical power to employ it effectively.

@Sintra: you didnt mark the relevant part in bold, here
GF5 was a high-speed head-on engagement in excess of 100 km,
meaning at the time of launch, the supersonic non maneuvering target at high alt was over 100 km away

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/farnborough-air-show/2012-07-08/theres-no-escaping-mbdas-meteor-missile

“All the targets conducted a final evasive maneuver,” added Bradford.

GF5 engaged a BQM-167 drone.

http://www.cei.to/AerialTargetSystems/BQM-167Ai.aspx

Based on the United States Air Force BQM-167A, CEi’s international variant – the BQM-167i provides world class performance to customers outside the USA in an affordable subscale aerial target. With an operational ceiling greater than 15,000 meters, the BQM-167i enables the international community the capability of testing new weapons systems at altitudes, at speeds and in maneuvering conditions previously unavailable.

The BQM-167A/i is capable of supporting various mission requirements by carrying a multitude of internal and wing tip mounted payloads as required to best emulate threats as defined by the customer. Payloads include smoke, scoring, IFF, passive and active radar augmentation, electronic countermeasures and infrared (IR) augmentation, including plume pods and internally stored chaff flare dispensing.

http://www.cei.to/Portals/0/BQM-167A.pdf

Maximum Speed 0.93 Mach | 308.26 m/s

Operational Altitude 50ft AGL to 51,000ft MSL
15.24m AGL to 15,544m MSL

So it’s more fair to say that given the statement says, “well in excess of 100km,” and the target speed is small relative to the missile, this subscale target was taken out after >100km of flight, whilst it performed an optimal evasive manoeuvre similar to that likely to be used by enemies. Given operational ceiling of target vehicle, this isn’t even a maximum range intercept altitude. Looking back at envelope charts, there likely isn’t even 75% of the range available at this altitude compared to higher launch altitudes and it was against a manoeuvring target.

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?129627-F-35-News-Multimedia-amp-Discussion-thread-(3)&p=2151933#post2151933