- Yes but only with Trailed weapons (ASRAAM/ AIM-9L)
- Yes but with full Possible Loadout (AMRAAM also)
- No
Hello and welcome to my suggestion for the First ever British Eurofighter, the Typhoon DA.2! I feel this has a strong reason to come to game and give Britain a Top tier fighter aircraft in the near future without overpowered weapons like the AIM-120.
History
Spoiler
The story of the Eurofighter is a very long one and I will not be covering it in this suggestion, I have covered it in my Tranche 1 Eurofighter suggestions to a degree so I suggest you look there for more info on the overall development of the Typhoon.
As the Eurofighters development came towards its end in the 1990s a series of Development Aircraft were built, know as the DA series. The first Development Eurofighter was the German made DA.1 and was used for Flight performance and, much later in its life, IRIS-T trials. The second Development Aircraft was the British Made DA.2, unlike the Previous DA.1, which lacked any sort of advanced weapons integration until much later in life, the DA.2 featured everything a Production Eurofighter would carry, including the ECR-90 pulse doppler radar and full weapons firing capabilities, from the start.
The DA.2 was first rolled out in 1993 at BAe Warton, making its first flight in April the following year. It was first displayed in public at the Paris Air show at Le Bourget shortly after being outfitted with a full Avionics and Software upgrade, Flying in on the 9th of June and leaving on the 13th.
During its Life the DA.2 performed a variety of Trials, including AIM-9 and ASRAAM trials, and most notably it was covered with 490 Pressure transducers to evaluate the stress put on the airframe with various External Fuel tanks and Air to Air missiles loadouts.
Whilst the DA.2 never carried or Fired Live AMRAAMs it can often be seen carrying a loadout of 2 or 4 dummy missiles, it is worth noting that the Aircraft was fully capable of Firing the Missiles as it had all of the Avionics required to use them, however Radar missiles Evaluations were not part of the DA.2s testing scheme, being tested on later DA and IPA Airframes.
Another Thing worth noting is that the DA.2 had two more major differences to later Typhoons, initially it was Outfitted with the Tornados RB-199 engines as a stopgap until the EF-200 engines were available, and the DA.2 also had provisions for two Countermeasures launchers mounted under the Fuselage compared to production Eurofighters ones under the wings.
Photos
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Picture Taken during the DA.2s first flight, Note the AIM-9Ls mounted on its wings
DA.2 on display at the RAF Museum at Hendon, shown in its Late Black Camoflage
DA.2 with 4 Dummy AMRAAMs mounted on the Fuselage
DA.2 Taxiing at what I believe to be RAF Marham
DA.2 after being rolled out at BAe Warton in 1993
DA.2 on display in 2002, AMRAAMs, ASRAAMs and Brimstones mounted on the wings (Note as far as I’m aware the Early model Eurofighters were incompatible with the Brimstones so they are purely for display)
DA.2 in flight Circa 1996, note the AIM-9Ls and AMRAAMs
Specs/ Armament
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General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 15.96 m (52 ft 4 in)
- Wingspan: 10.95 m (35 ft 11 in)
- Height: 5.28 m (17 ft 4 in)
- Wing area: 51.2 m2 (551 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 11,000 kg (24,251 lb)
- Gross weight: 16,000 kg (35,274 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 23,500 kg (51,809 lb)
- Fuel capacity: 4,996 kg (11,010 lb) / 6.215 l (1.642 US gal; 1.367 imp gal) internal
- Powerplant: 2 x RB199 Engines, later 2 × Eurojet EJ200 engines
Performance (EJ200)
- Maximum speed: 2,125 km/h (1,320 mph, 1,147 kn) / Mach 2.0 (2,125 km/h or 1,320 mph at 11,000 m altitude)
- 1,530 km/h (950 mph; 830 kn) / Mach 1.25 at sea level (1,530 km/h or 950 mph)
- Supercruise: Mach 1.5
- Range: 2,900 km (1,800 mi, 1,600 nmi)
- Combat range: 1,389 km (863 mi, 750 nmi) Air defence with 10-min. loiter / Ground attack, hi-lo-hi (with 3 × external 1,000 l tanks)
- 185 km (100 nmi) Air defence with 3-hr combat air patrol (with 3 × external 1,000 l tanks)
- 601 km (325 nmi) Ground attack, lo-lo-lo (with 3 × external 1,000 l tanks)
- Ferry range: 3,790 km (2,350 mi, 2,050 nmi) with 3 × drop tanks
- Service ceiling: 19,812 m (65,000 ft)
- g limits: +9 / -3
- Rate of climb: 315 m/s (62,000 ft/min)
- Wing loading: 312 kg/m2 (64 lb/sq ft)
- Thrust/weight: 1.15 (interceptor configuration)
- Brakes-off to Take-off acceleration: <8 s
- Brakes-off to supersonic acceleration: <30 s
- Brakes-off to Mach 1.6 at 11,000 m (36,000 ft): <150 s
Armament
- 1 x Mauser BK-27 Revolver Cannon (150 Rounds)
- Various Fuel Tanks of either 1000 or 1500 litres capacity
- Up to 4 ASRAAMs on wing pylons
- Up to 4 AIM-9Ls on wing pylons
- Up to 4 AMRAAMs on Fuselage Pylons (Only inert ones ever carried)
- Up to 2 AMRAAMs on inner Wing pylons (Only mock-up Missile carried)
- Up to 4 Skyflashes on Fuselage Pylons (possible, but were never fitted nor Trailed, however could come as a Stopgap until ARH missiles are added or as a slight bump in performance for a Eurofighter without AMRAAMs)
- Paveway Guided bombs (Unconfirmed but most likely would be possible as have been mounted on the DA.2)
Avionics
- ECR-90 Pulse doppler Radar
- PIRATE Tracking equipment
Place in game
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In game I feel that the DA.2 could come alongside other Nations Development Aircraft to allow for a less capable Airframe to come before the Later Tranche 1 Typhoons with all the bells and whistles. The DA.2 as it is would not be that out off place in game right now (In my opinion) as it does not have AESA radar and the only Overpowering factors are its missiles.
I propose that this aircraft come to the British Tech Tree after the Tornado F.3 as it is a pure Fighter version of the Eurofighter and would bring a competitive Top tier fighter in the near future, probably at around 13.0/13.3.
Sources
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Eurofighter Typhoon variants - Wikipedia
Eurofighter Typhoon - Wikipedia
Turbo-Union RB199 - Wikipedia
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/collections/X004-6167-TYPHOON-DA2.pdf
Eurofighter Typhoon DA-2 with Sidewinders and Panavia Tornado engines - Great Britain - War Thunder - Official Forum
Eurofighter Typhoon / EF-2000
ZH588 Eurofighter Typhoon DA2 | ZH588 Eurofighter Typhoon DA… | Flickr
