Whats the thing just beneath the LERX? New sensor or open pannel? Its not on older eurofighter pics from what i can see
no idea, i am not much of a air guy. cant tell specifics
That’s probably just a small power supply behind that door to make the cockpit lights work, because that is definitely one of the mock-up Eurofighters they wheel out for airshows and let the public sit in (you can see the intake at the base of the fin is blanked off, rather than being a proper duct).
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Is it just me or is the color of it quite a bit darker than the usual Eurofighters grey
It is a bit darker for some reason
Didnt like it tbh.
Original one is much better, actually Tornado Grey is the best one.
Grey for the Win!
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Hell yeaaa.
the standard to which they will be built is unclear. it might as well just be a new order of T4 standard eurofighters. thats why some refer to it as a T4+ order
ssshhhhh, let us dream
makes me wonder why none of the Forum Moderators whose job it is to… well, moderate the Forums (in other words, stop nutcases like this guy being a douche to anyone and everyone)
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Had this discussion the other day on a discord server, but im not sure why Germany doesn’t just phase out the IRIS-T and just start manufacturing the IRIS-T SLM for both air to ground and air to air at this point…
Itd vastly improve its IRAAM’s range on the eurofighter, likely with little impact on maneuverability, and would lower the cost of the SLM through economy of scale, while simplifying the manufacturing process through standardization…
IRIS-T vs SLM:
Its still smaller than the British ASRAAM but has more range…
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its larger than the ASRAAM. i’m estimating an 18-19cm diameter (asraam is 16,6) and its 3450mm long (asraam is 2900, similar to sls)
so in some way the SLM will have reduced maneuverability, even though it retains the thrust vectoring and afaik the same aerodynamic surfaces. i’d guess its mainly due to weight.
next you have the aerodynamic cap. for ground launches its fine to just jettison it somewhere but for air launches you have to make sure that the aircraft doesnt accidentally ingest it into its engines
now i do think they should adapt it to be air launched but replacing the current a2a is not a great idea. or maybe they should skip the SLM and go for the SLX in an air launched config lol
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wouldnt that be more of a BVR missle at that point?
Yes, combined RF/IR guidance
oh and A2G usage as a psuedo ALBM
still looking forward as well if the korean german collaboration will end with an upgraded missle
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i doubt it
Its stated to be 152mm diam vs ASRAAM’s 160mm…
You could just… not put it on?
SLX is much larger:
All in all, the SLM appears to largely outperform the ASRAAM in range, and is likely equal to or better than it in maneuverability. Its also an almost 4x improvement in range compared to the regular IRIS-T when ground launched, and would outperform the MICA as well.