Here's Gareth's thread on that from the other day...
If they all worked together on EK (or better still ECR) it would make a lot of sense...not just nationally, or for Typhoon, but for NATO/European defence as a whole. The US would be overjoyed if a decent number of EK/ECR were ordered. It would take any pressure on the EA-18G fleet for European operations completely away...
And that would make a lot of fighter for the production which saves production in the future.
That, plus the delta strakes in place of the current rectangular strakes and enlarged flaperons.IFC 2023: Airbus details Eurofighter Halcon standards for Spain
The Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft to be delivered to the Spanish Air and Space Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio: EdAE) under the Halcon II procurement...www.janes.com
See also the aerodynamics improvement at the end of the report. Are those the magic wedge at the root of the delta LE?
I'd expect so. See also the F-15EX order.
This is getting beyond a joke, even NATO members are now being blocked. Erdogan has to play to his people, if Germany keep up this crap, Turkey will end up batting for the other team one day.
You mean it's not already?
I mean Turkey is not really a partner who is good in the eyes of many German politican even compared to Saudi.
There were reports that they're even trying to pull the same s... with the F-35 now
what do you mean?
It has been going on for a long while in the subcomponents department though. It just doesn't make rounds in the global media except for big purchases like F-16 and Typhoon.
Ouch.
Eurofighter weapons, radar and sensor updates mooted
13 June 2000
Eurofighter could receive an internal weapons bay as part of future product developments that also includes improved systems and sensors.
Ross Bradley, BAE Systems programme director for Eurofighter/Typhoon, says: "Long- term studies have been done and there are enormous opportunities for derivatives."
Eurofighter is likely to benefit from work done for the UK's Future Offensive Air System (FOAS) which is due to replace the Panavia Tornado in the deep-strike role in around 2020.
The 620 aircraft ordered by Eurofighter's four partner nations will be delivered in batches, each of which will be different, taking advantage of emerging technologies and to meet changing scenarios. Tranche 1 covers 155 aircraft to be delivered from 2002.
FOAS will consider manned aircraft, unmanned combat air vehicles and cruise missiles. Dividing the deep-strike role between diverse systems will reduce the number of aircraft to be acquired, making a derivative of an existing airframe attractive financially.
Manned FOAS studies have considered an internal weapons bay to improve low observability, says Bradley.
The weapons bay would replace a fuel tank. In its place could be conformal tanks on the upper fuselage or fuel in the fin. "We see the FOAS main platform as being Eurofighter," he says.
Other changes to meet the FOAS requirement include additional air-to-ground weapons, an enlarged wing and improved sensors and processing. The latter is likely to concentrate sensor processing in a single computer rather than at each sensor, be it radar, electro-optical or the defence aids subsystem (DASS).
This would "drive costs down", says Bradley. Tranche 3 aircraft will probably have 360° sensor coverage. Definition of tranche 2 aircraft is required by the end of this year while tranche 3 Eurofighters will be delivered in around 2010.
• Germany is expected to rejoin the Eurofighter DASS programme in the next few weeks, acquiring the same DASS configuration as Italy and Spain. The UK has the same equipment but also integrates a laser warning system. The Germany "entrance fee" to rejoin the programme will be used to fund DASS enhancements.
www.flightglobal.com
Turkey's current defence spending is well under NATO's 2% goal. It is also developing a heavy 5th gen fighter and two LO wingman drones. Aside from the aerial domain, it is currently a prototype heaven when it comes to defence industry.
That amount includes the allocated budgets of each Turkish sec. branches, i.e. the Police, the Gendarmerie, etc. also have their respective shares in that. So there isn't a big difference compared to previous years' budgets.
