Se acaba la cuenta atrás para el MMRCA
A ver...
Pues aprovechando la cercanía pongo un segundo y último ladrillo de selecciones sacadas de aquél documento en que analiza el programa MMRCA a fondo:
http://carnegieendowment.org/files/dogfight.pdf Da una definición concreta de lo que es "supercrucero" para la USAF desde el punto de vista del Raptor: volar a mach 1.5 o más sin PC durante periodos sostenidos con carga de combate: proviene de
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/d ... 991378.htmEl Raptor puede volar a Mach 1.78 sin PC, y por eso alegan que otros como el Tifón, cuyo supercrucero es "sólo" a Mach 1.2 (oficialmente), no son supercruceadores. Aunque en el texto indica que el Eurofighter es el que más se acerca a esa definición de entre todos los contendientes del MMRCA:
"In the context of the F-22 Raptor, supercruise is defined as the ability to cruise at speeds of one and a half times the speed of sound or greater without the use of afterburner for extended periods in combat configuration." By this standard, none of the aircraft in the MMRCA race possess supercruise capabilities, although the Typhoon comes closest in this regard.
Un fragmento de una tabla comparativa. Dan datos de carga de combustible, algo poco común de ver:
Sobre el Rafale, sus costes y de la modernización del Mirage 2000H:
For all its impressive qualities, the Rafale is a likely to be an extraordinarily expensive aircraft, costing somewhere in the region of $85 million a copy, second only to the Eurofighter. The continual upgrades that Dassault has proposed to bring the aircraft up to F3+ standards has, therefore, perplexed many industry observers because the smaller French aircraft production runs already raise unit costs considerably above their foreign counterparts. This ends up making the Rafale costly to begin with, which partly explains why it has lost out in every foreign competition thus far. Attempting to compensate for this outcome by incorporating more sophisticated technology ends up making the airplane even more expensive, especially compared with other twin-engine fighters that provide comparable capability at lesser cost. European industry sources also emphasize the Rafale's high maintenance requirements, which are certain to add significantly to its life cycle costs.
Disadvantage of the Rafale: High maintenance burdens [burden = carga, ser una carga]
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In any event, the incredible costs of the Mirage 2000 upgrade program—believed to now run at more than $35 million per aircraft—only highlights the traditional weakness of French combat aviation, namely its atrociously high prices that produce a poor cost-to-value ratio.
Desconfían de que por parte de Dassault vaya a haber transferencia tecnológica efectiva porque:
India's experience with the Mirage 2000 has shown that, while the French have been very good in providing spares and support for their aircraft, even aircraft maintenance has yielded little by way of true transfers of either knowledge or expertise.
Ventajas políticas del Rafale:
The purchase of a French aircraft could be quite attractive to India on political grounds because Paris has been one of New Delhi's strongest supporters in the international arena. Moreover, French sales of military technology to India have never been subject to cutoffs or sanctions and, hence, would remain a source of reassurance to New Delhi in politically uncertain times. It is far from clear, however, that this past performance is enough to warrant a reward in the form of a MMRCA purchase, given that other big orders, such as the Scorpene submarine and the European Pressurized Reactors (EPR) have already gone to Paris.
- Sobre furtividad radárica, del Rafale, el documento destaca que tiene la menor RCS de todos los presentados.
- Dice que el Rafale F3+ (Tranche 4) tendrá IRST, aunque es un error, ya que el OSF-IT serán sensores ópticos CCD TV. Y cita su carencia de señuelos remolcados.
- Destaca que tanto EFA como Rafale tienen sus AESA aún sólo en evaluación, no operativos.
- Tanto del EFA como del Rafale destaca una excelente integración y fusión de sensores.
Sobre el Typhoon Dice que es el más caro pero también el más cercano a lo que busca el MMRCA y el más sofisticado, técnicamente hablando (no políticamente):
Out of all the aircraft, the Typhoon conformed most closely to the Request for Proposals, and in a purely technical sense, it arguably remains the most sophisticated airplane in the mix
- Destaca dos factores operativos relevantes para la India: su capacidad demostrada para operar desde pistas "cortas" y su buen desempeño en condiciones alto y cálido. Algo que en lo que el Rafale está muy por detrás.
It [the Eurofighter] also exhibits striking short takeoff and landing performance.
Y sobre supercrucero:
In fact, the Eurofighter remains the only aircraft among the MMRCA competitors to have demonstrated some sort of supercruise capability (though this capability falls far short of the sustained supercruise capability of the F-22A and the F-35). (Nota: ¿El F-35? Eso es un fallo.)
Y también:
"In the context of the F-22 Raptor, supercruise is defined as the ability to cruise at speeds of one and a half times the speed of sound or greater without the use of afterburner for extended periods in combat configuration." By this standard, none of the aircraft in the MMRCA race possess supercruise capabilities, although the Typhoon comes closest in this regard.
Sobre su interfaz MMI:
and permits the pilot to control most functions through voice inputs (with the exception of weapons launch). (Nota: El Typhoon es el único del concurso con interfaz VTAS (DVI), más visor de casco y novedoso equipo de vuelo los cuales tampoco tiene el Rafale.)
Sobre el PIRATE:
[El Typhoon cuenta] with a superb IRST system—possibly the world's best—called the Passive Infra-Red Airborne Tracking Equipment (PIRATE). The PIRATE system is capable of detecting targets at distances approaching that of conventional radars. It combines a long-range IRST sensor operating in the long-wave infrared band with a FLIR thermal imager that is capable of passively searching, tracking and designating targets for weapons launch.
Sobre el DASS:
The principal weakness of this system (DASS) currently is the lack of a DRFM-based jammer, but the Eurofighter consortium expects to incorporate this capability in the future.
¿Que el interferidor del DASS no cuenta con DRFM? Eso es falso.
De documento oficial de Selex Galileo sobre el DASS:
The ECM incorporates
Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) technology and provides a comprehensive range coherent and non coherent jamming techniques.
...
• Fully integrated ESM/ECM Comprehensive range of
DRFM based coherent and non coherent ECM techniques including anti monopulse.
http://www.selex-sas.com/EN/Common/file ... torian.pdf
Y de la RAA nº 769 de diciembre de 2007:
http://www.portalcultura.mde.es/Galeria ... 9_2007.pdf:
Sobre el DASS:...
Mejora 3: Mejora de las DRFM (Digital Radio Frequency Memory) del subsistema ECM “on boardâ€, con aumento de su potencia radiada efectiva, reducción de espúreos y refinado de las técnicas de perturbación y engaño.
Esa mejora se le está incluyendo a todos los Tranche 2 como parte de la P1Ea, y si es una mejora es que, obviamente, el DASS desde antes ya contaba con esas DRFM.
Y otra fuente:
[Sobre el DASS] ECM: Fully integrated and automated electronic counter measures system with same spherical and frequency coverage as ESM. Using
DRFM, a technics generator and PESA. The system can jam multiple threats simultanously.
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/i ... topic=19.0
Sobre transferencia de tecnología de EADS: que no sería tanta como se dice, muy posiblemente, y que Alemania podría darles algunos EFAs suyos como hizo RU con A. Saudita (aunque comete un gran error: los 72 Tifones sauditas no provienen del pedido a RU, sólo los primeros 24. Y en teoría estos serían recontratados... si firmaran una T3B):
Although many European diplomats have blithely asserted that transferring highend aviation technology to India “will not be a problem,”such claims must be taken with a pinch of salt. Because the Typhoon is produced by a fourcountry consortium, each with different strengths, different political interests and different responsibilities, securing agreement on an extensive technology transfer package to India will be more difficult than the casual commentary sometimes suggests.
This remains true despite the fact that Germany is the lead country responsible for the Eurofighter Consortium's India campaign. If the Typhoon wins the MMRCA competition, it is likely that the aircraft off ered to India will be taken from the Luftwaffe's planned acquisition in much the same way that the 72 aircraft sold to Saudi Arabia came from the Royal Air Force's allotment.
Sobre coste del EFA y ventajas políticas:
The Typhoon remains the most expensive aircraft in the MMRCA competition, coming in at close to $125 million a copy.
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Adding to these disadvantages is the fact that purchasing the Typhoon would produce few obvious political benefits. While New Delhi has good reason to maintain strong relations with the United Kingdom and Germany, the imperatives for deepening a partnership with Italy and Spain—particularly through defense purchases—are less pressing. Given these considerations, the Eurofighter Typhoon may ironically end up being devalued, despite its technical effectiveness, for economic and political reasons that in this case are simply not trivial.
- Sobre furtividad radar, el documento destaca que la RCS del EFA es elevada dentro de ser reducida, desde luego su RCS es mayor que la del Rafale.
- El documento ignora en todo momento, cuando habla de maniobrabilidad y de CFT (como cita en el capítulo del F-16 IN), que el Typhoon ofertado tiene TVC y CFT (el Rafale sólo CFT).
- Destaca que tanto EFA como Rafale tienen sus AESA aún sólo en evaluación, no operativos.
- Tanto del EFA como del Rafale destaca una excelente integración y fusión de sensores.
Conclusiones tras comparar todos los competidores (aunque sólo quedan Rafale y Typhoon): el Typhoon es el que más se acerca a lo que buscan:The Typhoon, perhaps, has an edge here mostly because of its excellent human factors engineering. All four aircraft diff er, however, in the area of radar cross-section reductions. The two smaller aircraft, the F-16IN (without its conformal tanks) and the Rafale, appear to have the smallest radar cross-sections nose-on in comparison with the F/A-18E/F and, certainly, the Eurofighter.
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The IAF would prefer to acquire U.S. munitions as long as it was aff orded access to the best variants and had no reason to fear about reliable access to supply.
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When these competitors are considered on balance, the Eurofighter probably edges to the top of the final four in terms of overall sophistication, but barely. Despite its present lack of an AESA radar, its sophisticated sensors and avionics will improve with time. Its short takeoff and landing performance and its supercruise capability are relevant operational benefits. Its weapons bring new capabilities to the IAF (even if the best are not released to India or if those released do not always match the best possessed by the United States). And its swing-role capability enables it to shift effortlessly from aerial combat to anti-surface operations.
Against these advantages, however, must be considered its relatively large radar cross-section, which could prove disadvantageous in many combat situations. Yet it is a relatively young aircraft and so has considerable opportunities for growth. The Typhoon, too, comes closest to the static requirements of the MMRCA Request for Proposals, or at least appears able to comply with them with fewest changes.
Sobre mejor integración y fusión en cazas "occidentales":
Western aircraft gain dramatic advantages over their Russian and Chinese counterparts because they incorporate better sensors and more eff ectively fuse the information derived from them to ease the pilot's workload amidst the rigors of combat. This capability derives ultimately from the West's superiority in electronics, software, and systems integration.
Sobre mantenimiento y apoyo logístico rusos (del Mig-29/Mig-29K que opera la India y del Mig-35):
Disadvantage of the Mig-35: Horrendous maintenance requirement.
....
Given extant Russian advantages in aircraft production, however, the MiG-35 is likely to be among the cheaper aircraft on offer, probably coming in somewhere around $45 million a copy. Against this fact, Russia's abysmal record of delivery performance, its perennial difficulties in providing after-sales support, and the high maintenance and life cycle costs of Russian aircraft, will have to be factored in as well.
Sobre CFT y radar del F-16 IN:
The F-16IN, based on the Block 60 version developed for the UAE,... is equipped with conformal fuel tanks that alter the distinctive profile of the aircraft, boosting its range but, unfortunately, also reducing its aerodynamic performance. The presence of the conformal tanks results in close to a one-third increase in the aircraft's internal fuel capacity, without depriving it of the ability to carry other external tanks as well. Although the conformal tanks do not noticeably add to the aircraft's drag —a tribute to their design— they contribute to its increased weight when loaded with fuel. This weight gain ends up reducing the F-16IN's otherwise superb maneuverability,...
When equipped with conformal fuel tanks, the F-16IN's aerodynamic performance drops noticeably across all parameters, save range, suggesting that this configuration is unlikely to be favored in any scenario involving air-to-air combat.
Against a one square-meter radar cross-section target in the forward hemisphere, the AN/APG-80 is estimated to have a detection range of some 95 km in both lookup and lookdown modes. The radar can also maintain track files on up to 20 targets, while supporting four simultaneous engagements.
Sobre el SuperHornet:
While the F-16 remains the perfect example of a great fourth-generation fighter that has evolved over time to service new roles—its airframe remaining basically intact while its innards have been transformed in revolutionary ways—the F/A-18—which was developed originally as part of the same lightweight fighter competition—has undergone dramatic structural and internal metamorphoses to make it in reality an entirely new aircraft.
The current F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Boeing's candidate in the MMRCA competition, shares only the designator, “F/A-18,”with its immediate predecessor, the F/A-18C/D.
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its avionics and sensors, which no other aircraft save the fifth-generation F-22A and F-35 can match.
Jane's Avionics, for example, suggests that the AN/APG-79 can detect a one square-meter radar cross-section target at some 110 km. One Indian commentator, basing his F/A-18E/F characterization on IAF sources, places the “radar's range against tacticalsized targets at roughly 100 to 125 miles [160‒200 km]
- El SuperHornet es el único cuya envolvente de vuelo está limitada a menos de 9 G's (unos 7 Gs).
Y por último,
sobre costes unitarios de todos los contendientes originales al MMRCA:
MiG-35 -----> $45 million
Gripen NG --->$82.2 million
Rafale ----->$85.4 million
Typhoon ----->$123.1 million
F-16IN ----->$60 million
F/A-18E/F --->$60.3 million
Un saludo