A Low(er) Observable Eurofighter?

[Siberia]

Whilst certain aspects of the Typhoon were designed and built with a nod towards creating a lower radar cross-section (RCS) it was never a 'stealth' aircraft. Both German and British companies worked on low observable technology in the 1980s and '90s seeming to make decent headway which suggests that the knowledge was there or could be developed. So could the decision have been made to implement perhaps not a fully stealthy but more stealthy design for the Typhoon?

This was prompted by reading about the Korea Aerospace Industries KF-21 Boramae, formerly KF-X, which seems to be squarely aimed at the gap between the Typhoon and Rafale and the F-35 in terms of RCS. Originally the it was going to be designed across three blocks but that plan ran into real life and got scaled with only two now, a plan like that might be attractive to a European consortium. Two major challenges I can see are that it bumps up costs – development, purchase, and lifetime – and potentially rules out a carrier version – and therefore France – from the start. There's also the problem of aircraft like these possibly falling between two stools – too expensive compared to aircraft like the Gripen for many countries whilst not being stealthy enough for others that have the cash to spend on aircraft like the F-35.

 

[kaiserd]

Both the Rafale and Typhoon picked up more refined features reducing their radar cross sections during their design and development; that was the balanced cost effective way to go within their producers expertise and technical means and within their customers willingness and ability to pay.

Realistically everyone was (and to some extent still are) behind the US in this field; France and the Eurofighter partner countries (like every other country apart from the US) just didn’t have the option of building a F-22 or F-35 equivalent fighter design at any stage before now.

A more “limited” F-117 equivalent (lower performance, less flexible, very high maintenance burden etc.) perhaps was (maybe?) theoretically possible for some combination of France and the Eurofighter nations from (maybe?) at some stage in the noughts but not while any of the major decisions on the Rafale and Typhoon were being made. Hence there wasn’t really an alternative “more stealthy” road to go.

 

[Hood]

Yes Replica was about a decade after EAP I think?
The MBB Lampyridae began in 1981 so dovetailed into the later phase of TCA/early EFA but the Medium Range Missile Fighter concept seems to have been aiming at technologies for a post-EFA fighter for the late 90s. Of course by then its design would be anachronistic compared to the LO designs coming out of LM, McD and NG during the mid/late-90s.

I suppose if you had a continuing Cold War and if the EFA had got into service relatively on time in 1996-97 then its possible a stealthy F-35-esque successor could have followed for the 2010s. I guess in hindsight it does seem rather odd that it will have taken Europe the best part of 50 years to develop its own "stealth fighters" by the time the 6th gen jets arrive circa 2035-40 given that LO research began in the 1980s.