Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanjuro
Being bigger aircraft, they need more powerful engines... both are considerably heavier than the Typhoon, and have larger RCS than the Typhoon just on the basis of size.
|
Well size is part of the problem with the Typhoon, as its not big enough to realy compete with the F-22, F-15 and Flanker series aircraft as it's in the F-18 class. The Typhoon is excellent at what it was designed for; supersonic BVR interception and close in combat at transonic speeds, but it lacks the range to truely compete beyond its optimum combat range with the F-15 and Flanker who's size may better allow for upgrades to engines, sensors and weapons which could erode any advantage that the Typhoon currently has. The Typhoon is not a stealth aircraft, but information from the RAF suggests that its radar signature is about one quarter of the Tornado F.3 its replacing. Author Doug Richardson claims that the RCS value of the Typhoon in clean configuration is less than one square metre, which if true makes the Typhoon at least twice as stealthy as the Rafale and 20 times better than a Su-30MKI. However the RCS of the Russian Air Forces latest Su-35BM is believed to be fairly close to the Typhoon which is an example of how the radar signature an aircraft of the Flanker series can be upgraded, in addition to improvements in aerodynamics, sensors, engine power, payload carriage and general performance.
BTW I'm sourcing a lot of my data from
http://www.ausairpower.net/index.html which is an excellent and well informed site on a whole range of air defence subjects and topics.