Eurofighter Typhoon - Updates and Discussions

That is as I said, not necessarily true. It depends on the efficiency of the T/R. It is also a fact that the more you spike above the noise floor. The easier it is to detect, even with LPI.

More advanced? The rafale's radar is tarted up from the Mirage. This isn't a good street for you to go down.

You are getting quite delusional now. When you say it exceeds the capability of the F-35
He said Rafale's radar has same range performance as F35's radar(with smaller nose/TR count). No where he said that RBE-2AA exceeds the performance of APG-81.

Don't put your words into his mouth, mate!
 
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He said Rafale's radar has same range performance as F35's radar(with smaller nose/TR count). No where he said that RBE-2AA exceeds the performance of APG-81.

Don't put your words into his mouth, mate!
Steady on. He said the 'small nose' the rafale has less modules than the F-35, but has the same range. he is saying the rafale exceeds the capability.
 
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Steady on. He said the 'small nose' the rafale has less modules than the F-35, but has the same range. he is saying the rafale exceeds the capability.
I see your point. May be it does so with more peak power. But yes US is indeed pioneer of AESA tech and very hard for anyone to touch them in this regard.
 
I see your point. May be it does so with more peak power. But yes US is indeed pioneer of AESA tech and very hard for anyone to touch them in this regard.
It is speculation, as no one here has the data. I can't prove he is wrong in range. Common sense says the F-35 exceeds the capability of the rafale. I can show that the rafale radar is primitive, in modes and function to the F-35.
 
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We can laugh but they put AESA radar on F15s way back in early 2000s. Experience counts.
The frogs have gone quitet on GaN modules. They use to wave them like a flag. The US is first to have GaN AESA adapted APG-79 radar on the old Hornet update.

No need of the F-35 for a comparison. Both the super Hornet and the old hornet update would exceed the capability of the Rafale.
 
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We can laugh but they put AESA radar on F15s way back in early 2000s. Experience counts.
It's curious, the first American AESA was introduced around 2004/2005 on the F-15, whereas it was not until 2012 that the Rafale was introduced, a difference of barely 7/8 years, knowing that Thales, in view of this introduction, had designed a PESA that was compatible with the future AESA to gain experience. And we consider that 10 years later it still makes a big difference. But the 18-year gap between the RBE2 AESA of 2012 and the Captor E of 2030 does not matter, on the contrary, the RBE2 is a marketing AESA.
I remind you that the prototype of the RBE2 AESA was made with American T/R modules which gave a 50% improvement in range compared to the PESA, and that the production radar uses French T/Rs which give it a 100% improvement in range.
 
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Finally, the Rafale has a cryogenic cooling system for the microwave receiver, which reduces the noise and thus increases the range of the radar.
 
The frogs have gone quitet on GaN modules. They use to wave them like a flag. The US is first to have GaN AESA adapted APG-79 radar on the old Hornet update.

No need of the F-35 for a comparison. Both the super Hornet and the old hornet update would exceed the capability of the Rafale.
It is only the V4 that has GaN modules, and it started its tests only in May 2022. The mass introduction is not limited by the technology but by the price of GaN components, when this price will be affordable for airborn radar all radar manufacturers will offer at the same time versions of their product with GaN modules.
 
You know the radar is a weak point on the Rafale. Why dig a deeper hole?
India had to spend $60 million each. On top of the purchase price, of the aircraft the French are flying. To bring it up to their standard.
It really bothers you a lot that the Rafale's radar, which was so easy to attack when it was a PESA, has become so difficult to attack now that it is an AESA. And so you prefer to live in the past. Well, we prefer to live in the future.
 

China's armed forces recruiting dozens of British ex military pilots in 'threat to UK interests'


All British former service personnel, who have accepted jobs to train Chinese military pilots, "are almost certainly enhancing China's military knowledge and capability," an official has said.

China has recruited dozens of former British military pilots to teach the Chinese armed forces how to defeat western warplanes and helicopters in a "threat to UK interests", officials have revealed.

One official said some 30 mainly ex-fast jet but also some helicopter pilots - lured by annual salaries of around £240,000 - are currently in China training pilots for the People's Liberation Army, in what a defence analyst described as a stunning breach of security.

A retired senior Royal Air Force officer said: "Wow… that is appalling. What were they thinking?"

Beijing is actively trying to hire many more serving and former military pilots and other specialists from across the RAF, the Royal Navy and the British Army as well as personnel from other western nations, the western official said.

The situation is so grave, the Ministry of Defence's Defence Intelligence service on Tuesday issued a "threat alert" to warn serving and former military personnel against such approaches.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told Sky News' Kay Burley the recruitment of UK pilots to train Chinese counterparts had been a concern within the Ministry of Defence "for a number of years".

Personnel already in China have been approached and advised against continuing such work, he said.

Mr Heappey said the law will be changing to make it illegal to ignore such warnings in future.

"Don't go and train foreign air forces without checking with the MOD whether they are a foreign air force we want to see you train - would be a good rule," he said.



China is using third-party head-hunters, including a company based in South Africa, to target personnel, the western official said.

The official named the company as the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, though stressed it had no connection with the South African government.

Sky News has contacted the firm to request a response to the allegation.

UK appears powerless to stop recruitment schemes

The western official said the recruitment schemes posed "a threat to UK and western interests" and were viewed with "concern and disapproval" by the government.

All British former service personnel, who have accepted jobs to train Chinese military pilots, "are almost certainly enhancing China's military knowledge and capability," the official said.

Despite the potential for harm to national security, the UK appears to have been powerless to stop the recruitment schemes or to force the former service personnel, who have accepted jobs in China, to return home - beyond appealing to them.

The official said it was not thought that anyone had breached the Official Secrets Act - which would be a criminal offence.

The Ministry of Defence said it was working to make it much harder for China to poach British military talent.

"We are taking measures to dissuade current and former pilots from being recruited, and we want to avoid any perception by China that our previous silence on this matter is misinterpreted as our acceptance or approval of this activity," the western official said.

'It is certainly more than a trickle'

The spike in recruitment has been identified since around the end of 2019 at the start of the COVID lockdown.

Officials were unable to immediately say the total number of former British military personnel who had ever been hired to work for the Chinese.

They were also unable to give a figure for how many current and former personnel are actively being targeted right now, but said: "It is certainly more than just a trickle."

No identities were given of the former British military pilots who are already working in China, but officials said a number of them were in their late 50s and had left the military a number of years ago.

"Without us taking action, this activity would almost certainly cause harm to the UK and our allies' defence advantage," the western official said.


What is China trying to achieve?

China is seeking pilots with long-experience of flying British and other NATO warplanes, including the Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets and the Harrier jump jet - which used to operate off British aircraft carriers, to teach its pilots how best to counter their capabilities, the western official said.

"It's not training Chinese pilots on Western jets. It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities," the official said.

"It's really the Chinese having an understanding of what the latest generation of tactics and approaches and capabilities would be, were the Chinese military to get into situations coming up against those types of assets."

This also included British military helicopters such as Wildcat and Merlin.

It is understood that China has attempted to recruit former pilots who have trained on the top secret, US-led fifth generation, F35 fast jet.

The official said it is thought such efforts had so far been unsuccessful. These aircraft - each one worth more than £100 million - use highly sensitive stealth technology developed jointly with the United States and are a prime espionage target.

What is the UK doing to stop former pilots being recruited?

In a bid to make it harder for China to lure more pilots, the Ministry of Defence said efforts are underway to tighten security legislation and employment contracts.

"We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train People's Liberation Army personnel in the People's Republic of China," a spokesperson said.

"All serving and former personnel are already subject to the Official Secrets Act, and we are reviewing the use of confidentiality contracts and non-disclosure agreements across Defence, while the new National Security Bill will create additional tools to tackle contemporary security challenges - including this one."

Francis Tusa, the defence analyst, called the revelations "gobsmacking".

"Let's be honest, China is an enemy," Mr Tusa told Sky News.

"As such, we have got British subjects who have decided that their interests are best served by teaching our enemy how to defeat us. This is incredibly frightening."

The revelations emerged as new legislation is being introduced to parliament on Tuesday to toughen the UK's oversight of individuals and companies that work for hostile states or foreign entities and try to influence domestic politics.

As an amendment to the National Security Bill, the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme will require anyone who is hired by a foreign government to declare their activity or risk prosecution as part of efforts to clamp down on espionage and malign influence operations.

The head of MI5 said: "The UK is in strategic contest with states that seek to undermine our national security, democratic institutions and commercial advantage at an unprecedented scale. We need new, modern tools and powers to defend ourselves, proportionately but firmly."
 
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Deux Eurofighter Typhoon EF2000 se sont posés à l'aéroport Toulouse-Blagnac (Haute-Garonne), jeudi 2 novembre vers 14 heures, à la plus grande surprise des Toulousains.

Two Eurofighter Typhoon EF2000s landed at Toulouse-Blagnac airport (Haute-Garonne) on Thursday 2 November at around 2pm, much to the surprise of Toulousians.

It is a little after 1.30 pm and like every day of the week, Aude and Hélène are quietly sipping their coffee, near the Cépière racecourse, admiring the planes as they begin their landing towards Toulouse-Blagnac airport (Haute-Garonne). Suddenly, they both heard a rather unusual engine noise. Two fighter jets passed overhead in succession, causing them great astonishment.

Both aircraft are Eurofighter Typhoon EF2000s, coming from Warton airfield, located west of the towns of Preston and Blackburn, England as shown on the map below. BAE Systems has its manufacturing and assembly plant there.

These two aircraft belong to the group of 24 Typhoons ordered by Qatar, comprising 20 single-seater and four two-seater aircraft.

The stop in Toulouse longer than expected

As reported by the Anglo-Saxon website key. aero , the first aircraft of this order was officially delivered on 15 August 2022 in the UK. The ZR501 (two-seater) and ZR509 (single-seater), which have made Toulouse spotters like Seletti Nuno ( ©Icare Spotter) very happy, are now on their way to the Arabian Peninsula.

The two Eurofighters have a limited fuel supply (about 2,000 km) and must make several stops before reaching their base in Doha. Presented as a one-day stopover, the stop in Toulouse is prolonged. On Friday 4 November, the two aircraft were still on the ground at Toulouse-Blagnac airport. According to our information, the two planes landed there to refuel, but one of them had a breakdown. The departure is therefore postponed until further notice. (Update - Friday 4 November 2022).
 
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