Not necessarily. I should have included the Gripen E in there as well since it could be very nasty with 7 Meteors.
To preface I think it depends on the year the UK chooses to ditch (or not even sign onto F-35), but the UK’s current investment probably wouldn’t have gone into making Eurofighter into anything different than it is today, rather it would’ve been redirected to Replica, with some of those technologies (EJ230 engines and sensor fusion as well as AESA) then being redirected into Eurofighter so it could form a High-low mix. Honestly if the UK had stuck with it, it would’ve been a better setup than we have today. And probably only cost 4-6bn more for a much better setup.
Replica is its own awesome kettle of fish that if it were up to me, would NOT have been cancelled (that said as virtually everyone knows, I completely loathe the F-35 programme from a British point of view).
But to address potential Eurofighter upgrades in general, or on the back of Replica.
PIMAWS, AMK, ASRAAM P3I, better engines, CAESAR would’ve been realised and then replaced by ECRS (So Captor-D/M->CAESAR->ECRS), probably expanded weapons loadouts and capabilities (UK has no ASHM and no ARM both solutions would likely have been realised), potentially the carrier variant might’ve gone ahead, perhaps as a comprehensive redesign similar to Hornet->Superhornet. Unfortunately the UK also would’ve likely have found a way to make the accursed CFT’s aerodynamically possible too…
The UK really dropped a ridiculously strong potential aircraft in the form of Replica for F-35, given our contribution. It may have eclipsed everything but F-22 if you look at the known targets.
1 Like
I’m fine with it moving up but still being .3 behind 🙂
1 Like
Condolences for that F/A-18 at top BR because of it’s one missile.
3 Likes
There isn’t much to upgrade beyond what’s already been done, new seeker in the last 5 years, untold other potential changes in block 4.
Unless you want to physically change the dimensions that’s kind of it.
2 Likes
I honestly I see the missiles making more of a difference than the actual amount of missiles. I have a feeling that ASRAAM and MICA will probably outperform the lower range IIR missiles by quite a significant margin, especially if they model them right (with LOAL/data link).
So it would make sense to have ASRAAM/MICA equipped planes higher than IRIS-T equipped EFT/gripen for example
1 Like
They could potentially do like the MICA and add a dual pulse by reducing the size of the electronics.
Also it still isn’t clear whether the last block has Datalink (I believe) ? Even if that would make sense that it has it
2 Likes
Really depends on how Gaijjin is going to handle the iron dome meta going forward, isnt it? Right now you could have the best missile possible but a half decent SU30 pilot can still pick of every single missile youre going to fire and still have plenty left over to push you. And depending on how Gaijin will handle stuff like the IRIS Ts advertised hard kill capabilites i could definitely see iron dome strats become even stronger.
Also really dependent on how Gaijin handles more advanced IR seekers going forward. Right now the ones on the ground launched 9X and Iris T are pretty much the same as all the other ones and stuff like the IRIS T SLM cant use IR and Radar homing simultaneously. I wouldnt be surprised if ASRAAM and MICA IR end up as Bluefor R-27ETs instead of actual upgrades.
2 Likes
Could expand the data link capability from the land ceptor and sea ceptor.
1 Like
ASRAAM i do not have high hopes for.
Proving to Gaijin its as fast as it should be while being able to pull high G without fins (looking at you Stinger argument from devs)
And everyone will have MAWs, making the ASRAAM far less effective. I hope Typhoon gets IRIS-T or even 9X with ASRAAM I see ASRAAM treated like an R-27ET a missile you can decoy accidentally.
Gaijin will not want another period of IR meta that came with the Magic 2, 9M and R-73 period.
2 Likes
That was a fun time reading up on the BAE Replica. First time realizing that demonstrator existed, would have been interesting to see where it went.
1 Like
I would argue it’s because of the mix of options of AIM-174B, AIM-260, and AIM-424 that it is where it’s at.
Two-way datalink, shrunk electronics with increased motor propellant or new design such as dual pulse, or offering radar versions of ASRAAM alongside (basically CAMM without the turnover pack).
While having not enough Fuel too, we are misisng fuel worth ~3 Minutes of flight
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/hg1Mkfev9t2a
1 Like
Doesn’t sound like much but that would be rather useful, always find myself needing a few more minutes of fuel, especially in NE
1 Like
Not really any point, ASRAAM is a short/medium range R-77M, effectively hypersonic with extremely high top speed but sustained speed falls off quickly. Dual pulse stretches the range sure but then you lose its key attribute.
Comet doesn’t exist yet AFAIK while aim-424 does, not really a fair compairosn.
And the equivalent to aim-424 for Russia would be izd-810m which is the r-37m successor but AFAIK it hasn’t been produced yet like comet.
There was this marketing/concept slide from MBDA I think for the Tempest’s weapon loadout. A few years old now and I have no idea if its still relevant, but there is an increased calibre Twin rail ASRAAM type thing and HK-DAS which is basically a missile for APS. So they definetly thought about it
I can only imagine how many Eurofighter reports they’ve got stacked up by now, probably enough to write the Old Testament already, and if they keep stacking them like this they’ll have enough for the New Testament too
MICA gets the dueal pulse while keeping the exact same main booster. By shrinking the electronics, it’s not impossible to potentially do the same for the ASRAAM
