comparing Eurofighter and F-35

[phil hunt]

This has probably been covered before, but how do the Eurofighter
and the F-35 cxompare as air superiority aircraft?

My understanding is the Typhoon has better manouvrability and
power-to-weight ratio, while the F-35 has stealth and better
avionics. Typhoon also carries more missiles than F-35, and can
carry a wider range of missiles, e.g. large missiles such as Meteor
won't fint in F-35's internal bays.

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[John Cook]

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:04:15 +0000, (phil
hunt) wrote:

>This has probably been covered before, but how do the Eurofighter
>and the F-35 cxompare as air superiority aircraft?
>
The JSF airframe may be more stealthy, the avionics fit may come up
short due to the financial constraints, 30-40% of an aircrafts price
is the airframe, If the price of the JSF doesnt go upto around
US$50-60m then the sensors and avionics will suffer greatly.

AIUI The Typhoon will be superior in the avionics department, the real
issue is timeframes, the Typhoon is in production right now and so is
infinenatly better than the JSF, the Captor radar is good for the next
5 years or so, then the JSF is supposed to be produced, and some
believe that its sensors will out perform the Typhoon!!

Around 2 years after the JSF is being produced the Typhoon may
receive the AMSAR and several other upgrades, In which case the
tables may again be turned...

I had heard some rumours that there was upto 2000 modules in the AMSAR
(more likely 1500 IMHO), does anyone know how many the JSF will have
and if the AESA will be a cut down version of the the F-22?.

I had also heard yet another rumour that the JSF and the F-22 may get
the same antennae - But with reduced modules in comparison to the
APG-77, as a cost saving measure!?

All in all the JSF looks a bit sluggish compared to the
Typhoon, but then again maybe (just maybe) agility , supercruise and
superior TW may not be _that_ important in future BVR battles.

(In which case Typhoons and JSF should move over to allow A310 with
cruise missiles/long ranged A-A missiles to lead the way:-)).


Cheers




>My understanding is the Typhoon has better manouvrability and
>power-to-weight ratio, while the F-35 has stealth and better
>avionics. Typhoon also carries more missiles than F-35, and can
>carry a wider range of missiles, e.g. large missiles such as Meteor
>won't fint in F-35's internal bays.

John Cook

Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.

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