[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by RN7

I would agree over the F-16 and Lend Lease is pretty much what Dan proposed on Etranger. I would disagree with only having the F-16 or the Eurofighter and not both, as the F-16s wont be built in Britain, and Britain has a large aerospace industry.

The final assembly line for all Eurofighter aircraft is at Warton, and most of the flight testing is also done at Warton. Components of the Eurofighter are made at Samlesbury

The share of work is as follows:
Britain: Front fuselage, canopy, dorsal spine, tail fin, foreplanes, inboard flaperons, rear fuselage sections
Germany: Main centre fuselage
Italy: Left wing, outboard flaperons, rear fuselage sections
Spain: Right wing, leading edge slats

Much of the work and most of the key components of the Eurofighter are built in Britain. Take Italy and Spain out and redirect the work and I would say the Eurofighter is 75% British made. Also the CAPTOR radar is British, a development of the Sea Harrier FA.2s Blue Vixen radar developed by the then GEC/Ferranti, now part of BAE. The real life EJ200 Eurofighter engine is assembled in Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, with the British part being the combustion system and high pressure turbine and health monitoring system. But the EJ200 is based on the British Rolls Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator engine that was developed from 1984. The T2K Eurofighter is a joint British/German development, but the Germans don’t have a significant aircraft engine manufacturing capability other than what they produces under license or in joint-partnership with other countries. Britain on the other hand does, Rolls Royce is/was the largest maker outside of the US and Rolls Royce’s commercial engine are built in Derby while the Eurofighter engine is built in Bristol.

Even on low production starting in 1996 I would say that Britain could build two a month up until the nukes start flying, so 28 RAF Eurofighters is realistic.

However I never intended the Eurofighter to be fully operational, as 1997 is to early to have a fully functional aircraft in mass production. More likely about a dozen operational aircraft at any one time with another dozen or so under going trials and testing, and replacements for lost aircraft.

I don't doubt that the capability is there for us to have both...I just think that if the Eurofighter is being delivered on schedule - or ahead of schedule - then the powers that be in the MoD would decide there was no need to procure F16's in addition to the Eurofighter (unless one advocates increasing the strength of the RAF by an extra Wing of fighters due to increasing Cold War tensions, which is another matter altogether...if that's the case go for it).

Hence the reason I think I think it would be an either / or scenario...what I'm getting at is that if Eurofighters are coming off the production line at Warton on a regular basis I don't think there would be perceived to be a need to seek an alternative...