Farnborough - First Report

[overscan (PaulMM)]

As I am off for a week's holiday, I will just be posting a few items from Farnborough tonight.

The rain really poured down about 1:45pm onwards, forcing me to miss the Typhoon demo. Shame.

I was really blown away by the V-22. A really beautiful aircraft in its own unique way.

The SuperHornet demo left me mosly unimpressed. It had a definite precision and snap in its manouvres but the display didn't have any "Cobra" style manouvres that make you think - "wow", and it seemed to concentrate on low speeds.

The F-16 demo was good, as usual. It had a bit more "zip" to it than the SuperHornet.

The MiG-29OVT display wasn't quite as good as the one I downloaded from MAKS: perhaps to do with the weather? Nevertheless it was a stunning display of slow speed aerobatics. However, you have to wonder exactly what the point of it is in combat terms.

Overall: a fun day, picked up a lot of magazines and stuff, which will mostly have to wait for a week.

 

[TinWing]

I really meant to ask you this long ago.

Flight International had an article which claimed that Gripen International would show models of a "carrierborne" Gripen and an "enlarged" Gripen variant?

I am assuming that the two proposals were "no shows?"

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/06/27/207410/New+Gripen+variants+studied+by+Saab.html

 

[Matej]

SuperGripen

 

[Matej]

more...

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Sorry for the late reply. At Farnborough they showed only the Gripen N and DK. No sign of a naval version, unless they misunderstood "Gripen N".

 

[TinWing]

Deleted

 

[Just call me Ray]

Why a navalized Gripen? The only two nations on Earth that even conceivably have both carriers and an interest in the Gripen are India (who have already settled on the MiG-29/35 as their carrier aircraft) and Thailand (which would need a V/STOL Gripen). Evem the Gripen's own home country is conspicuously absent from that short list, unless they have a new naval building programme I haven't heard of.