The EAP in flight.
Before anyone comments to inform me that the EAP was rejected (I know, I made the proposal), this thread exists for me to document my sources and for other individuals who are fans of the EAP or would like to see it in game to deposit theirs, this is done in accordance with Smin’s response to myself which said the EAP would be fine in the machinery of war category but with the current provided information did not fit the criteria for a suggestion. My aim is to further explore the EAP as an option and potentially source information which would make the EAP applicable.
The EAP
The BAe EAP was a cranked delta-winged, foreplaned and high agile technology demonstrator for what would become the Eurofighter Typhoon, this aircraft itself was a development of the prior BAe P.110 aircraft intended for export to Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia. This aircraft took features from prior BAe developments and put them into one lightweight, versatile and advanced package making its flying debut in 1986 and serving as a demonstrator until 1991.
Its place in War Thunder is as a supremely agile, high performance fighter aircraft for the British Top Tier aviation tree, any aircraft that would engage the EAP outside of BVR will find themselves struggling to compete with the highest T/W in the game combined with phenomenal acceleration, stall characteristics and systems fusion. It stands as a contemporary to the 12.0 aircraft of other nations such as F14, F16 and Mig 29 of which all trees feature aside from Sweden who akin to GB have no 12.0 and France who have their own in the form of the Mirage 2000-5F.
This aircraft carried no weapons however it did carry weighted (during flight) full sized mockups of specified BAe products including missiles and a gun. In addition the flight data recorder took the space of the radar and provided a nose-weight akin to a radar. Although the P.110 was intended to carry a multirole armament this aircraft (the EAP) was never shown with such ordnance mock-up or otherwise so i will not detail them and as such the EAP is a purely air to air fighter.
The aircraft features a cranked delta wing design together with foreplanes to give it the aoa found in Mig-21 series aircraft coupled with the energy retention improvements found on the J7E.
The aircraft is based on the BAe Jaguar, Tornado and Harrier in addition to the P.110.
History of the EAP
The P.110 was revised before construction could begin of the ordered 6 prototypes after interest was confirmed by Italy and Germany as the P.110 had previously been an entirely private venture without funding from even the British MOD. Though both nations were slated to provide financial backing neither did, Germany however did provide research on the air intakes which included ventral intakes to improve the aircrafts supersonic and stall performance however they then pulled out of the programme leaving the venture entirely funded by Britain. This resulted in Tornado engines being recycled for use and the aft fuselage originally to be developed by Germany being instead developed by BAe which included a modified Tornado tail which redesigned and coupled with the much smaller frame of the EAP resulted in significantly better control responsiveness of the rudder something the Tornado had notably struggled with.
Specifications
Role: Pre-Production Prototype/fighter
Crew: 1 (Pilot)
Number Built: 1 (ZF534)
Length: 48 ft 2.75 in (14.7003 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 7 in (11.76 m)
Wing Area: 560 sq ft (52 m2)
Height: 18 ft 1.5 in (5.525 m)
Empty weight: 22,050 lb (10,002 kg)
Max Takeoff Weight: 32,000 lb (14,515 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Turbo-Union RB199-104D 3-spool turbofan engine, 9,000 lbf (40 kN) thrust each dry, 17,000 lbf (76 kN) with afterburner. Tornado engines with the thrust reversers removed.
Radar system: The BAe P.110 was directly intended to use the Tornado ADV’s Foxhunter Stage 2 2G Radar and as a development of the P.110 the EAP would feature the same Foxhunter Radar as found on the Tornado ADV this would also affect armament. Furthermore in the cockpit of the EAP a radar and MAWS scope is shown however obviously no data is fed into this as the aircraft lacked a radar the MFD was designed with 14 modes with several dedicated to ‘assault weaponry’.
Maximum speed: Mach 2 at 11,000 m (36,100 ft), Mach 1.2 at sea level
G-limits: +9/-3 (Note similar to the Sepecat Jaguar ACT the EAP utilised fly by wire controls later found on the Eurofighter including flight control computers, these utilised the various control surfaces to bring the maximum performance possible to the aircraft, however these would also result in the EAP and Eurofighter being unable to rip their wings due to their flight control systems)
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)
Thrust to weight ratio: 1:1.5
AOA: 35 degrees
Roll Rate: 200 degrees/second
BR: 12.0
Nation: Great Britain
The EAP blueprint?
The EAP is seen here with 2 aft mounted airbrakes, it was later given a Typhoon-style dorsal airbrake which was only used after it was grounded as it was static and inoperable in the air to test its effectiveness in wind tunnels, as it required its airbrakes for complex maneuvers as seen in the Paris air show it was only changed after the aircraft was firmly associated with the upcoming Eurofighter Typhoon.
Armament
1 x Mauser BK 27mm cannon 180 rounds as seen on the Tornado or 150 as seen on the Eurofighter
4 x Skyflash SuperTEMP (The SuperTEMP was developed in 1988 and as we are going with proposed armament the standard Skyflash would have been useable but phased out as was seen in the Tornado, therefore SuperTEMP’s should be as available as a researchable modification). Theoretically it could have mounted further AIM-7 derivatives but coupled with the inarguably fantastic IR missiles and flight performance SuperTEMP’s should be satisfactory if a little subpar.
2 x ASRAAM
2 x BOL countermeasure sidewinder rails totalling 320 x flares/chaff
This section I do admit is not historically backed but is a potential armament scenario based on the very obvious mock-up weaponry.
With reference to the countermeasures none were officially slated for use but the UK had a number available to them, having priorly domestically manufactured the F4 Phantom and the Harrier GR.3, the same years the EAP was flying and further developed (1986-1991) the Harrier GR.7 began to receive BOL pylons which are compatible with any sidewinder capable missile rail and simply requiring software of which the EAP was incredibly future proofed, there is no reason why the EAP couldn’t mount them.
For radar and RWR purposes, the EAP would receive the Foxhunter stage 2G which would fit in the radome, furthermore it would receive the same avionics passage as the Panavia Tornado including the RWR as this was to be used on the aircraft the EAP was developed from and therefore would be able to carry over to the EAP.
As seen here the Technical layout of the EAP in addition to proposed weapons
EAP unique Features
Given its’ use of the ASRAAM the EAP would feature a HMD as this was developed specifically and in conjunction with the ASRAAM.
The EAP is unable to rip its wings due to its software systems, no permanent damage can be induced.
The EAP features 13 control surfaces which interact with each other and the pilot to gain the maximum possible performance.
Foreplanes can depress to -80 degrees functioning as an airbrake similar to what is seen on the SAAB Gripen, this is because the Gripen is co-developed by BAE using the same technology demonstrator (The EAP).
The EAP features an early variant of the fully encasing Typhoon G-suit which provided pressure to the chest and the legs to increase G-tolerance to the same level as other fighters whilst performing drastically higher G maneuvers, something unique to the Typhoon and its predecessor.
Forplanes in addition to leading edge slats, variable thrust provided by the engine systems, and the ventral intakes provide the aircraft with the notable handling at both supersonic speeds common with delta wings and at stall speeds where delta winged aircraft tend to ‘dead fish’ and ‘drift’ enabling the aircraft to have characteristics akin to thrust vectoring and enabling automatic management of split throttle manoeuvres in conjunction with the rudder.
