Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Why hasn't EuroFighter come out with conformal weapons bays like the Silent Eagle, to stay in the game?

Okay, answering my own question, the wing is mounted too low.

The low wing mounting allows for the canards to be above the wing, even though they are mounted midway on the body, with considerable anhedral angle (what the fnord?), there's no chine-line and just look at that boundary air flow diverter

Procedure to "stealth up" an Eurofighter.

Step one: scrap the Typhoon.

Step two: buy a JSF.

F-16.net Sponsor

What's that other than a troll post?

Scorpion82 wrote:

What's that other than a troll post?

A fairly accurate one, actually.

If you wanted an RO Typhoon, I'd go with SDBs or Brimstone rounds in LO/VLO ordnance pods. But your solution is what the RAF will end up doing. A bunch of Typhoons will be retired by the end of the decade.

Well asking a question and answering it yourself in the same post while starting a new thread for this is somewhat dubious. That the Typhoon design allows for no CWBs as found on the F-15SE is hardly a secret and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that either. You will hardly turn a sumo into a barbie or the other way round.

Oh, c'mon. Nobody has thought of over-wing conformal weapon packs for the Typhoon?

They'd be launching against gravity so we would have that instance with the A-12 and D-21 mid-air collision again if things go wrong. Believe me, things WILL go wrong.

Actually it might work out, as this aircraft has no tail. Toss the missile up and let drag pull it behind the aircraft before it starts up the rocket engine. Hopefully the datalink works so the missile doesn't just target the aircraft right in front of it.

There's gravity to worry about. If the ejector's broken those missiles are going nowhere and if the ejector doesn't it give it enough clearance in time the missile will come right on top of the wing before igniting. Really, the idea was tried before and only in desperate times was it ever incorporated into a design. The british built fighters that had launch rails on top of the wings only because there wasn't enough room under the wings to put more stores. It is simply too risky for the launch vehicle vs. underwing pylons.

The Rafale and Gripen both have space under the wings. These jets all being smaller than an F-15 probably has a lot to do with it, if you can only carry a Sidewinder or equivalent in your internal bays there isn't much point.

tacf-x wrote:

They'd be launching against gravity so we would have that instance with the A-12 and D-21 mid-air collision again if things go wrong. Believe me, things WILL go wrong.

Exactly. What would happen if the Typhoon is in a 7g turn and launches an ASRAAM that doesn't clear the aircraft before slamming into the top?? Weapons pods are a far better solution. I suspect the semi-recessed AIM-120 carriage doesn't hurt RCS too badly, so it could carry a few LGBs or Brimstone in pods as well as the 4 AMRAAMs.

They could let things drop out the back. Very Happy

I was thinking more or less a pod that slid open and closed to launch.

madrat wrote:

I was thinking more or less a pod that slid open and closed to launch.

Ouch. That would kill lift and produce a truckload of drag. If it was under the fuselage, maybe. Otherwise, Sad

Also, remember how much of a pain the Jag's overwing pylons were to load- and that was just with AIM-9/ASRAAM and similar weapons. Try that with a 300-lb AMRAAM and we're not looking at a picnic for the ordies.

I'm thinking stealthy underwing/underfuselage pods would be the best way to go. We would need to hang them like podded engines to maintain lift over that section of the wing and under fuselage pods would be better still as they would be large enough to carry various LGBs, AAMs, etc.

Putting a hood scoop on a Camaro won't make it a Corvette.

You can't "bolt on" stealth if it didn't come with it originally - "Silent Eagle" reduces the Eagle's radar cross section, but doesn't make it nearly low observable.

Mike

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Silent Typhoon?