With MBDA offering Taurus to be integrated on the Su-30MKI’s, one would think that this would be an ideal weapon to integrate on the Typhoon for India. I think work is already being done in Germany and Spain to this end.

Fair enough.:diablo:

Designing and manufacturing a 5th generation fighter is no small feat. Going from a prototype to production involves massive expenditures in itself. And this is compounded by the political need to distribute work among various manufacturers and countries.

In other words- while Europe undoubtedly has the technical expertise to design such a fighter, the time and money involved in getting it to production and deployment outweighs the technical and military benefits.

Saab is doing a 5th gen fighter. France is working on a stealthified Rafale (~2019). I think stealthy modifications to the Eurocanards will keep them relevant for some time to come. Especially in the modern networked warfare environment, where heavy stealth is only one facet of combat effectiveness and can be defeated by other means.

EDIT:
Actually Hotdog,I think the small radome there is a trick of perspective. The fighter itself is not small at all- IIRC it is roughly the size of a Tornado!

I bet Japan will go for this. The F-35 doesn’t meet the Japanese delivery schedule. The Eurofighter has been removed from the competition. So that leaves the Super Hornet. They will likely need all the performance enhancements they can get to remain current.

I thought the separate 1 way datalink was only for the PESA equipped Rafale?

For a stealthy Typhoon, I think the best that could be done would be to use improved RAM (composite jaumann absorbers like those on the F-35) at radar hotspots, and in areas where structural loads are not prohibitive. You could even actively control absorbtivity and reflectivity at different areas using frequency selective surfaces, such that RCS would be minimized at a given aspect (i.e. in the threat direction).

You could also add stealthy hardpoints like they are working on for the Gripen NG.

Perhaps the inlet could use some slight redesign too. A DSI could probably be used, given that the F-16 and J-10 originally used conventional pitot inlets like the typhoon, but were adapted to use DSI’s.

It probably wouldn’t reach F-35 or F-22 levels, but it would increase survivability, I think.

However, there are of course limits on what could be done without creating a new aircraft.

I’m wondering about this. If we accept that there can be no redesign of the fuselage because this essentially makes it a new aircraft, and we accept that there is no driving force to do so, then I think we have to look at this question:

What will the RAF need a Typhoon replacement to do in 20 years time?

oh and this question:

What will it be operating alongside?

I’m sorry but its going to be optionally manned, and possibly a mixed fleet of UCAV and mothership aircraft.

We could see Typhoon soldiering on as a node in this fleet but i think you are looking at the same airframe (possibly with missile pods), TVC, AESA and multi spectral stealth along the lines of the stuff BAa demonstrated at DSEi.

I don’t think there will be a manned replacement for Typhoon in the A2A role, and as such I don’t see any major structural changes to the design.

Are you referring to BAE’s adaptive camouflage for tanks?