Re: Eurofighter
> Typhoon was designed as an air superiority fighter, not a strike aircraft.
Well yes, but it has been turned into a reasonably effective one, through a series of modifications.
> So the airframe and configuration isn't optimal for low level manoeuvring with heavy wing loads that a naval strike aircraft should be good at.
It's up against a VTOL model though which is clearly compromised through that arrangement.
Obviously the wings would require a re-design, but the airframe isn't what makes modern aircraft expensive. There is a visibility problem in that the layout makes it hard to see the deck, that might be tricky to surmount.
> the avionics aren't ideal for launching large stand-off weaponry
They have actually done it in practice though, that would have been a good argument 15yrs ago.
> and there would be a lot of work to make it cat'n'trap compatible.
Traps maybe, the original suggestion was that a more powerful engine was in the offing, and that the Typhoon has a very high power to weight ratio anyway so might not need a cat to get airborne. It would depend on what they could do with the wing without breaking performance of course.
...or just strap some rockets to it, which would look good at least.
I suspect the actual problem is that BAe has enough of a finger in the F35 pie to make that more profitable than producing a competing aircraft.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
