Reply With QuoteBad advertising during Indian evaluation...
Source: Aviation Week BlogAustria Damages A Eurofighter
Posted by Robert Wall at 2/18/2010 10:02 AM CST
There's some bug making its way around Europe that is causing unrelated fighter aircraft miscues.
A few days after it has come to light that the Swedish air force briefly halted Gripen operations and now is flying with minor restrictions, now an Austrian newspaper discloses that the country's air force has had a mishap with one of its Eurofighter Typhoons.
According to the report, the Eurofighter was coming in to land, when the landing gear wouldn't deploy. The pilot prepared for an emergency landing, including use of the arresting hook. Just before touch down, the landing gear did deploy. But on landing, the arresting hook hit the runway and then ricocheted and struck the fuselage. The result, about 15,000 euros in damage.
The Austrians kept the incident quiet, triggering accusations of a cover up. But the defense ministry argues no public statement made since nobody was injured in the incident.
The development come as the Austrian defense ministry is already fighting accusations it is suffering deep problems. The level of attacks drove chief of staff Edmund Entacher to issue a statement this week rebutting many of the accusations, including that the Eurofighters aren't operational and that 80% of tanks aren't operationally available. Both those accusations are wrong, he insists.
Bad advertising during Indian evaluation...
I seriously doubt the Indian evaluation is in jeopardy because an Austrian EF had problems with the hook.Originally Posted by Kongjun33
A security landing with the arrestor hook is daily routine. In the German Luftwaffe this happens once or twice a week with all kinds of planes. I'm willing to bet that within the US of A with its large fleet you have one or two comparable incidents a day. A "damage" of 15.000 € is also not really worth mentioning. The Austrian air force simply did not report it as there is nothing to report, but then the yellow press heard about it and speculated about a "secret crash". Retarded Austrians are retarded..
Is Brimstone integrated? Maybe only a general statement that they going to test A2G ammo.
X2. 15000 is nothing as far as costs in aviation goes. I think the main issue however, would be the landing gear not coming down when it was first tried.
I mean, this s not the first time with the Typhoon!
Its not integrated yet, however the UK wants it and maybe they are already working on it or may be until the trials start. Why would they use "dropping precision guided munitions" and "firing air-to-ground missiles" in the same sentence if only bombs were meant? I dunno though...
Exercises will include dropping precision guided munitions and launching air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles”.
I was at Nellis a few months back when a F-15 came in with a hook landing in an emergency recovery. It was at sunset and the sparks created by the arrestor hook created quite a show. The mood on base was "business as usual." I wish I had my video camera out...
And what was the last time? Do you think that only happens to the EF? See Rapier55's post..
Sure it's not the case! But just see the american F-15, this plane suffered mishaps in the past, and has been mothballed for a while since the problems have been found and solved. A recurent particular problem (with the landing gear) could show something wrong with the assembly/production line (for example), though. Perhaps it s not a good time to say Typhoons would be mothballed since the aircraft is in a stiff competition in India.
What about Storm Shadow, Taurus, or anti-ship, -radiation missiles? These should be more interesting for India, than the Brimstone right?
Are Indians interested in a good interceptor or a complete multirole fighter first?!
In this contest, I don t understand why officials claimed the Eurofighter jet s leading... The Typhoon is not really a proven multirole fighter, some other contenders (US, Russian and french) have better offers.
Last edited by Kongjun33; 02-20-2010 at 06:44 PM.
I stumbled across a great you tube-channel, a user collected some Eurofighter maneuvers:
Eurofighter Typhoon performing it's trademark High Alpha Velocity Vector (HAVV) Roll.
'Fish Hook' 180° break turn.
Typhoon performing a ridiculously tight 360 deg turn.
Pitch-up to vertical climb.
Source: Defense NewsSaudi Arabia Buys MBDA Missiles: Sources
By ANDREW CHUTER, LONDON
Published: 19 Feb 2010 14:39
Saudi Arabia has signed a deal to acquire the Storm Shadow cruise missile from European weapons builder MBDA as part of a Tornado strike aircraft update package, said industry sources here.
The weapons package also includes the Brimstone anti-armor missile, they said.
Earlier plans to include the ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missile ended last year when the Saudis selected Diehl BGT Defence's rival IRIS-T for Tornado and the Typhoon fighter.
French-based weapons firm MBDA, in which BAE is a major shareholder, has always refused to discuss negotiations even though a Saudi aircraft being modified at BAE's Warton aerospace complex in the U.K. was photographed taking off on a test flight carrying a Storm Shadow.
News of the contract signing emerged as a result of an entry in BAE Systems' preliminary results for 2009.
The document said that "significant incremental orders totalling £1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) were received in the period for the Tornado Sustainment Programme weapons contract, naval minehunter mid-life update and a multi-year naval training program."
MBDA seemed unaware the deal had been made public. A spokesman declined to confirm any details, saying it was "up to the Ministry of Defence or the customer to comment."
BAE revealed last year that it was upgrading three Saudi minehunters originally supplied by the VT Group in the mid-1990s.
The British-based company employs around 4,900 people in Saudi Arabia supporting the Tornado, Hawk trainer and other programs.
Last year, the company delivered the first eight of 72 Typhoons purchased by the Saudis and agreed on a package to support the aircraft.
The first deliveries of the Tactica armored security vehicle for the Saudi National Guard commenced in 2009 and a support package has been secured by the company.
BAE chief executive Ian King said Feb. 18 that future Saudi orders might include more Tactica orders, upgrades to Bradley armored vehicles, and the purchase of mine-protected vehicles.
The company admitted, though, that it was having problems with a command-and-control, communications, computers and intelligence program it signed in 2006 with the Saudis.
The C4I program remains "challenging and discussions continue with the aim of agreeing the definition of a solution that meets customer requirements" said the results document.
E-mail: achuter@defensenews.com.
Storm Shadow and Brimstone - well I guess Saudia Arabia will use these on their future EF2000's as well.
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