Photo: Costa Concordia shipwreck as seen from a Typhoon fighter jet May 9, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.Tags: Costa Concordia, Eurofighter Typhoon
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The Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground aground on rocks off the Isola del Giglio Island, Italy, has been photographed from almost every angle: on the Internet you can find pictures showing the luxury cruise ship as it lies half-submerged on its side, taken by scuba divers, by the crew members of the helicopters involved in the rescue operations, as well as by satellites.
However, the image below, is the first one taken by a fast jet, I’ve seen online so far.
It was taken by Raffaele Beltrame from a Eurofighter Typhoon (the one in the picture is the combat plane’s canard).
Image: courtesy of Raffaele Beltrame
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Ready for a 9/11-type of attack: RAF Typhoons based in London will shoot down suspect aircraft to protect Olympics (if required) May 3, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.Tags: Combat Air Patrol, Eurofighter Typhoon, Fighter aircraft, London, Olympic Games, RAF Northolt, Royal Air Force, Typhoon
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Four RAF Typhoon fighter jets have landed at RAF Northolt airbase, in west London, on May 2, 2012, ahead of a nine-day military exercise aimed to test security for London Olympic Games.
The arrival of the RAF Typhoons marks the first time fighter planes have been deployed at the air base in London since the end of WWII.
Exercise Olympic Guardian features UK’s most advanced and combat proven plane training to practice QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) procedures and tactics in case of a 9/11-type of attack. However, the purpose of the series of exercises is also to “deter terrorists from making any threats to the Games”, said Air Vice-Marshal Stuart Atha, air component commander for Olympics air security.
The Typhoons will be constantly in Combat Air Patrol, ready to intercept any unauthorized or suspect plane into a restricted zone of 30 miles around the capital, including Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports. Such airspace, whose shape is more or less circular, designated R-112 will encompass also a smaller No-Fly Zone, that will protect Heathrow Airport, London City Airpost and the Olympic Park. Within the prohibited airspace, designated P-111, only scheduled flights will be allowed.
Any aircraft violating the restricted or prohibited zone will be identified and contacted by radio. It will be asked to follow the interceptors instructions, broadcast via radio or by means of standard visual signs, and escorted. And if the intercepted aircraft does not comply with the fighters’ orders, it will be shot down, regardless to whether it is a commercial plane with civilian passengers.
Obviously, the decision to employ the force will be taken at the highest political level, but RAF pilots could be required to use it.
Along with the fast jets, Olympics security will be ensured by Puma helicopters, that will have to intercept smaller aircraft, balloons or even small drones, and by several support assets, as the E-3 AWACS (provided that they will be cleared to fly…) and the Royal Navy Sea King AEW.
Last month a sonic boom caused by two Typhoons responding to an emergency signal from a helicopter was reportedly heard across central Britain.
Image credit: REUTERS/Paul Hackett
Exclusive: F-16 gets killed by Typhoon during air combat training in first Eurofighter HUD capture ever. April 26, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.Tags: ACM, air combat maneuvering, Anatolian Eagle, Dissimilar Air Combat Training, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16, Typhoon
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The following screenshot comes from a video recorded by the HUD (Head Up Display) of a Eurofighter Typhoon and it is the first (and only) Typhoon HUD capture ever made public.
It shows an F-16 in the wrong place at the wrong time: in front of a high maneuvering plane capable to point its nose when it wants to.
During a dissimilar air combat training (DACT), the “Viper”, in clean configuration and maneuvering under high G-forces, is killed by a Typhoon with a gun shot scored while flying at 8,200 feet, less than 5 degrees AOA (Angle of Attack), Mach 0.46, pulling 1.8G.
According to the source who sent it to me, the rest of the video shows that the Typhoon, after downing the F-16, continues maneuvering vertically, accelerating a bit to climb and descend again for a second shot on the same target.
The video answers to the some articles published in 2011 about claims that Pakistan Air Force’s pilots scored Typhoon kills during DACT taking place in Turkey, during Ex. Anatolian Eagle. According to such reports, Pakistani pilots on exchange with the Turkish Air Force, and flying TuAF F-16s, scored kills against RAF Typhoons in WVR (Within Visual Range) gun contests (even if no evidence was provided to support claims fueling the theory that the of fighter pilot tall story).
Since I don’t think I need to explain once again why DACT WVR is important and why any simulated kill should be taken with grain of salt, let me just add (paraphrasing someone else’s words:
“The European Typhoon kicks butts!”
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Photo report: French Mirage 2000s and Italian Typhoons at Grosseto airbase April 18, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.Tags: Cambrai, Dassault Mirage 2000, Eurofighter Typhoon, French Air Force, Grosseto, Italian Air Force, Rafale
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Taken at Grosseto airbase by Alessandro Fucito, the following pictures show the two French Air Force Mirage 2000s that paid a visit to the local-based 4° Stormo’s Eurofighter Typhoons on Apr. 12.
Noteworthy, the two French Mirages still wore the markings of the EC. 01/012, a unit previously based at BA103 Cambrai and disbanded on Mar. 30, 2012 (the SPA 162 “Tiger” banner and traditions was attached to the EC.01/007 “Provence” flying the Rafale at Saint-Dizier).
Image credit: Alessandro Fucito
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Have you ever seen a picture of a fighter plane towing a radar decoy? Here it is April 16, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.Tags: ALE-50, Eurofighter, Eurofighter Typhoon, MALD, MALD Jammer, Towed Radar Decoy, Typhoon, US Air Force
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Towed decoy systems are used to protect military aircraft from radar-guided missiles. These countermeasures are towed behind the host aircraft protecting it against both surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles. They provide a radiowave reflecting baid that attracts the RF-guided missiles away from the intended target.
Unlike the miniature air launch decoys (MALD) and decoy jammers (MALD Jammers) being tested by the U.S. Air Force for B-52H bombers and F-16 Fighting Falcons to deceive ground radars and anti-aircraft systems, such decoys have a defensive purpose.
Many aircraft are equipped with such towed decoys. The U.S. F-18s and B-1s are equipped with the ALE-50 system, while the Eurofighter Typhoon is equipped with a Towed Radar Decoy carried in the starboad side wingtip pod.
Image credit: Raytheon
According to the information released by Eurofighter, the TRD is attached to the pod using a Fibre Optic link used to send commands to the decoy radio frequency emitter to produce jamming signals required to lure the missile away from the “parent aircraft”.
Even if the Eurofighter website contains several diagrams showing the Typhoon’s towed decoy, no image can be found of the decoy being towed by a plane, except the following ones taken by Gian Luca Onnis (during an unclassified test – image released).
Image credit: Gian Luca Onnis (image released for use)
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Typhoons sonic boom during terrorist hijack alarm causes chaos in UK April 13, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Military Aviation.Tags: Coningsby, Eurofighter Typhoon, QRA, Quick Reaction Alert, RAF, Royal Air Force, sonic boom, Typhoon, UK
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At 18.10LT on Thursday Apr. 12 emergency agency telephone switch boards started receiving reports of a large bang or explosion that could be heard all over the southern UK.
It took a couple of hours before the reason for the mysterious bang was made public.
As most countries do, the RAF maintains a number of armed fighter aircraft on alert for air sovereignty and security purposes. The pilots are dismounted but are at a heightened state of readiness and can be airborne within minutes.
Since 9/11 this alert status also includes the possibility of reacting to potential threats from terrorist organisations using civilian aircraft to carry out acts of terror by using the aircraft as weapons of mass destruction.
Image credit: Nicola Ruffino
The Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) pilots are managed by the RAF’s National Air Operations Centre (NAOC), a team of 12/13 members including an Air Defence Wing Commander located somewhere West of London in an underground facility.
The team is charged with air policing of the UK airspace and also areas that come under the NATO umbrella, however, it does not monitor the national sky continuously, a task done by RAF’s Control and Reporting Centres (CRCs). CRCs constantly monitor the UK airspace and work in conjunction with the civilian Air Traffic Control based at Swanwick (Hampshire) and Prestwick (Scotland).
What happens usually when a civilian aircraft starts to raise suspicion that it is acting in a manner that is unusual?
It will first be contacted on the international emergency frequency: 121.5 MHz. Pilots are supposed to monitor this frequency at all times, but sometimes pilots use their second radio to listen to weather reports and other more mundane transmissions.
Therefore they miss this initial contact, prompting the initial investigations on the FPL (Flight Plan) filled by the pilot, the planned route and so on.
If further attempts to contact the aircraft fail, the civilian ATC will contact the CRC who in turn contact NAOC who will probably contemplate a tactical response while the problem within the UK airspace will be possibly notified to other NATO countries.
At this point the QRA pilots may be ordered into their cockpits, power on and be ready for immediate start. When engine are started, interceptors can be airborne in around 3 minutes. If the aircraft is still not responding to ATC or the airline on “company frequency” the QRA jets will be scrambled, along with a tanker aircraft.
Once airborne all civilian aircraft will be vectored out of the way of the QRA jets en-route to the target.
Whilst trying to contact the suspicious aircraft, the RAF jets will perform a very wide intercept (out of target pilots visual sight) and approach the target from astern (rear) with transponder switched off the mode C o so as not to alert TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System).
As the jets gets to within visual sight of the target the pilots will “shadow” the plane while performing visual checks to see if there is any visual reason for the aircraft not responding (maybe electrical issues).
If there is nothing obvious, the first jet will approach the target on the left hand side and forward of the cockpit so that the flight crew on the target aircraft cannot fail to miss the jet. The jet will then use the international intercept procedure, including visual follow me signals. Obviously, if the target fails to co-operate then things will be taken to the next level which could mean, after some further attempts to contact the plane and to make it comply to the visual instruction, to shoot it down.
There is a process where all of the above may not take place so quietly sparking an immediate reaction by the QRA cell, and that is if a pilot enters a certain squawk code into the transponder to indicate that the aircraft, has been hijacked.
That’s what happened on Apr. 12, when a hapless helicopter pilot accidently entered the 7500 squawk code that said he had been hijacked, sparking an immediate reaction by the British Air Defence.
At RAF Coningsby the two Eurofighter Typhoon QRA jets were scrambled immediately, call signs 5KG41 and 5KG42 screamed into the sky in full afterburner, and cleared supersonic. Since it is very unusual for combat plane to fly supersonic at low altitudes one of the fighter pilot was heard on the radio asking to confirm the instruction.
When the cleareance was confirmed the interceptors accelerated trough Mach 1.2. The sonic boom was heard by thousands of people who immediately called the police and fire services to report the unusual loud “bang”. Even the British Geological Survery was contacted to see if the UK had suffered an earthquake.
[Read also: Another supersonic scramble]
By the time the Typhoons were closing in on their target, the helicopter pilot had realized his mistake and had tuned his squawk to the correct code. A bit too late: the interceptors had already caused some concern throughout UK and their supporting tanker had also been in the air to support them.
Once everything checked out, the event which sent the British media into a frenzy, was all over.
Aviation enthusiasts in the UK noted that the VC-10 tanker was still airborne at 21.45LT a full 3 hours after the intercept and the pair of jets had returned to base at around 21.35LT. The aircraft was also picked up using ADS-B flying circuits off the east coast of the UK over the North Sea. Did they exploit the opportunity to carry out a training mission after being involved in the scramble?
Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com
Image credit: Eurofighter – Geoffrey Lee, Planefocus Ltd
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Italy buys its first three F-35s. With a shocking announcement: “a JSF will cost less than a Eurofighter Typhoon” February 8, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in F-35, Military Aviation.Tags: Eurofighter Typhoon, Italian Air Force, Italian Navy, Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, STOVL
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On Feb. 7, 2012, Gen. Claudio Debertolis, head of the agency that is responsible for the procurement of new armaments, has announced that Italy has already ordered the first three Lockheed Martin F-35s.
Unit price: 80 million USD.
Talking to the lower house’s defense commitee, Debertolis explained that these first planes will cost more than the rest of the fleet since costs are going to decrease as the program, currently in Low Rate Initial Production, continues. The Italian high rank officer is particularly optimistic, as he believes that the unit price will be around 70 million each (Lockheed Martin estimates 65M USD for the F-35A and about 73M USD for the F-35B), less than the 79 million USD currently paid for the Eurofighter Typhoon and much less of the 121 million USD per aircraft anticipated in 2011.
Quite surprising, since unit price is one of the JSF partner’s main concern, but possible, considering also that the Typhoon has just lost India’s mother of all tenders based on price.
Although there’s no official commitment yet, the initial requirement for Italy foresaw 131 examples (69 conventional take-off and landing F-35As and 62 of the short take-off and vertical landing variant F-35Bs). Debertolis confirmed that determining how many aircraft Italy will purchase is not a current task, since it will depend on the Defense Budget Review. Nevertheless, even if the number of aircraft will be much lower than the initial 131, the MoD will work to make sure that the industry will get the expected compensation.
Italy is working on stretching deliveries and slowing purchase “a much easier task than that with the Eurofighter program, since the F-35 procurement is modular therefore delays don’t imply increasing costs” Debertolis said.
Furthermore with the recent Eurofighter defeat in India, Italy is going to stop working on the Typhoon and “divert” part (if not all) of its workforce towards the F-35, being assembled at the Cameri FACO (Final Assembly and Check Out) facility.
Finally, Debertolis has confirmed that Italy will have both A and B variants, with the STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) ones serving both the Air Force and the Navy, that will use them on the Cavour aircraft carrier.
In spite of the widespread criticism surrounding the program and the global financial crisis it looks like the F-35 has, if not a bright future ahead, at least good chances to survive the austerity measures of the new Monti’s technocratic cabinet.
Image credit: Lockheed Martin
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The F-35 unable to meet South Korea’s fighter competition requirements? February 8, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Aviation, Military Aviation.Tags: Boeing, EADS, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-15E Silent Eagle, F-35 Lightning II, F-X, Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, Republic of Korea Air Force
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On Jan. 30, South Korea released a request for proposal for a next generation fighter plane that the ROKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force) is going to procure within the so-called F-X stage III.
Given the recent reports (later denied by the company), according to which Boeing has stopped development of the modifications for the F-15 Silent Eagle, the project saw the Lockheed Martin F-35 as the favorite choice. So far.
Two of the “must have” requirements included in the RFP may be a bit of a problem for the F-35. In fact, Seoul’s future combat plane has to fly at Mach 1.6 or faster and has to field external weapons on pylons.
The projected top speed of the F-35 is mach 1.6 which is the bare minimum required but as of writing has not been accomplished yet and, being a stealth plane, the Joint Strike Fighter was designed to carry weapons internally.
Lockheed Martin’s director for the F-35 Korea campaign Randy Howard spoke to the Korean Times and said that “the F-35 is designed to carry weapons internally. That’s what it does, and that’s why it is stealthy” although he did concede that if Korea insists on external weapons his company would simply customise the aircraft to Seoul’s needs.
The F-35 has 6 hard points to carry external weapons but this capability would not be ready for when the Koreans want to test out the aircraft during the June – September 2012 time frame. However, Koreans expect to recive US government assurances that the fighter will indeed meet both selection criteria, if not before June, at least once development has been completed.
Image credit: Lockheed Martin
Similar concerns don’t seem to disturb the other two F-X contenders. The above mentioned Silent Eagle is a modification of an existing model which already meets all of the requirements as does the Eurofighter Typhoon, recently defeated by the Dassault Rafale in the Indian MMRCA competition.
Noteworthy, the Eurofighter Typhoon is the only non-stealthy aircraft in the South Korean competition that, initially, featured the radar-evading capability as one of the tender’s mandatory requirements (later lifted to have more choice).
Next months will tell us whether Boeing will be able develop the Silent Eagle in time, Lockheed Martin will convice Seoul that the Lightning II can meet all the requirements or Eurofighter will walk away with the $7.62billion contract.
There could even be a fourth option in that Korea sticks with what it knows and orders a further 60 F-15Ks like those that have recently taken part to the Red Flag 12-2 at Nellis AFB.
Watch this space, by October all could have been revealed.
Written with The Aviationist’s Editor David Cenciotti
Image credit: Tony Lovelock
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Following on India’s MMRCA win, Rafale on the verge of winning UAE fighter deal? February 4, 2012
Posted by Richard Clements in Military Aviation.Tags: Dassault Aviation, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Military Aviation, Mirage, Rafale, Typhoon, UAE Air Force, United Arab Emirates
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Has Dassault won a 60 jet deal with the UAE?
French newspaper La Tribune reported on Feb. 2, 2012, that France could be on the verge of winning a long-awaited $10billion 60 jet deal with the United Arab Emerates which could be signed as soon as April.
Citing unidentified sources, the paper said on its website that President Nicolas Sarkozy would go to the UAE in March or early April when the contract is likely to be finalised.
The rumor comes only days after Dassalt virtually won the Indian MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) deal and few months after Eurofighter consortium, beaten in the “mother of all tenders”, received an RFP (Request For Proposal) by the UAE Air Force.
The deal has been in the pipeline since 2008 but negotiations stalled when the UAE described it as “uncompetitive and unworkable.” and had asked for information about the Typhoon. Althought how the deal was unlocked remains unclear a source told La Tribune that every issue has been solved.
If confirmed, this new order will unlock the possibility of further middle east deals for Dassault and Rafale in the Gulf, where countries could benefit of inter-operability that a common platform could offer. Qatar Emiri Air Force whose Mirage 2000s have taken part to the Air War in Libya operating side to side with the French Air Force combat planes out of Souda Bay, Crete, could buy 24 to 36 Rafale to replace its ageing Mirages. Kuwait last year said it was also considering buying Rafales.
Richard Clements for TheAviationist
Photo by Alessandro Fucito

























































