I think I am going to cry...
@ whoever - The original tempest/typhoon was great - when its tail wasnt dropping off and squishing cows - and when it wasnt winter and the engine had to be left running overnight (all night every night) because if you tried to start it cold the oil would just sit and grin while the Napier Sabre bent itself more out of shape than an el reg commentard...
Its all academic since if we are lucky all these things are going to be used for is a cheap target scoring drone for idiot politicians - and to pretty up Duxford Air Show once a year.. assuming they are fit to fly...
If we arent lucky, they are going to be cheesed (like creamed only it takes longer) by the fighters of the Chinese AF when they invade europe.
More to the point - it doesnt matter what you are flying - at all - if the other guy gets the jump on you and hits you while you are daydreaming/researching rule 34 as it relates to your ex and her dog... you will still BURN and DIE...
I dont know how much it would cost, but I am sure its possible to go down the local engineering shop with some old plans and get us a nice airforce with the pocket change in the kitty...
How, I hear you ask
Its perfectly simple - the purpose of the planes hasnt changed - just how they are powered and all the electronical kit.. so why not just go back, build uprated & updated ducted-fan/turboprop versions of old stalwarts as the tempest/typhoon - spitfire/seafire - beaufort or B-25 for ground attack/bombing...
See, its all very well hollering that speed is of the essence and manueverability and all that - but its been proved that all you need to do is get the jump and you, or they, still win 80% of the time.
So why spend shed loads of money on speed, when its a white elephant?
Then you have people saying - but if you are flying something thats top speed is 500-550mph (a speed that Griffon spitfires, with a bored-out merlin could just about manage 60 years ago) against something that can do mach 2.25 - remember viffing, that trick the harrier could play?
newsflash - everything low and slow, that will set your bald spot on fire if you are standing too close when it starts up can do the same trick... drop flaps/wheels, back throttle to just above stall, watch flyboy barrel past you looking bewildered, and then shoot him.. It was done in Vietnam/Korea for heavens sake with biplanes dropping grenades out the door. A German WWII ace almost got court martialled because the same thing happened in tests with one of the first Me262.
Its all irrelevant anyway, because its numbers that matter these days, and we don't have them.
What should be done is one person who has the authority to make the decision cans the whole program - the jets are taken to bits, and those bits recycled into a new autonomic flight/fight system - that way we don't lose the value we've spent but we get something that can fight way beyond the envelop that is currently possible (as has been stated before, fighting could be so much more fighty, if it wasnt for the requirement to bring the fleshies back in one piece) - and (assuming they dont use Windows CE Embedded) wont be looking at ramblers on the Cairngorms from below on a more or less regular basis...
I don't think there is any thing to be gained wingeing about Typhoon any more - because there is nothing anyone can do to change or cancel it. The government cannot back out, because it would be political suicide on a scale yet seen (even compared to their efforts now), the air force don't want to back out, because then they *will* be asking to borrow Duxfords planes (or the Confedarate AF, at probably half the price) so the only way is to stop now, and make something from the mess of the typhoon project, by moving the thing forward as a remote piloted fighter/munitions platform.
Yes, that does seem like more expense, but if its done properly, at the right price and properly overseen - then we will have a fighter/fighter bomber that is more capable and alot more future proof...
Or we could just be sensible - and buy a few boatloads of patriots and the like and be done with it - after all - I am sure there is some African country with a friendly (if politically dubious) government that we haven't palmed our overpriced military crap on somewhere ... after all, turning a load of rifle armed tribesmen into Whiskas with the Typhoon should be well within its capabilities...
Oh wait - its hot and sunny in Africa *sigh* and jets dont like to go out when its hot and sunny (can a harrier *get* sunburn...?)