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Fighting fit: European fighter programmes Against a backdrop of ongoing austerity measures the European fighter market remains buoyant as producers continue to enjoy export success, Nicholas de Larrinaga examines the latest developments
Despite the continuing decline of budgets and force levels since the end of the Cold War, Europe remains a powerhouse of aviation technologies, with the fighter market being particularly vibrant. Western Europe remains congregated around three canard-based designs: the multi-national Eurofighter Typhoon, and the solo efforts from France and Sweden of the Rafale and Gripen respectively. All three have now found success in combat and on the export market and, while the Rafale and Typhoon are very similar in design and ethos, each of the 'Eurocanards' offers its own unique slant on the modern fighter aircraft. To the east, Russia has continued to develop and refine its Cold War designs, while the entry to service of its modern fifth-generation fighter is now becoming a more imminent reality. Together, Europe's offerings remain in fierce competition with US fighters on the global export market. Meanwhile, on the southeast borders of Europe, Turkey is seeking to enter the fray with its own ambitious fifth-generation fighter aircraft plans. Rafale Although barely halfway through the year, 2015 has already been momentous for the Dassault Aviation Rafale. Despite the prototype Rafale A being the first of the Eurocanards to make its maiden flight (back in 1986), France's Rafale had lingered behind its European cousins in attracting an export order. With domestic orders being slowed in 2014 to a level not capable of sustaining the 11 per year minimum rate for Dassault's Mérignac production line, the future of the aircraft appeared in doubt. Indeed, the company needed to find a customer for an order/production shortfall of 40 units between 2015 and 2019. However, in three short months at the start of 2015 Dassault secured two firm contracts as well as a new commitment from India for the aircraft.
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With its strong multirole capabilities, the Rafale has had a sudden spate of successes on the export market in 2015. Rafale also has a nuclear weapon capability; the aircraft seen here is armed with the MBDA ASMPA supersonic nuclear cruise missile. (French MoD) 1425305 The 16 February contract signature between France and Egypt for 24 Rafales finally secured Dassault's first export customer for the aircraft after many false dawns. The order validated the ability of the aircraft to succeed in the export market and secured continued production at Mérignac until 2018. When Qatar also signed for 24 Rafales on 4 May it capped a perfect start to the year for Dassault, securing production until at least 2020, when future orders from the French Ministry of Defence (MoD) may be expected again. In between Rafale's successes in Egypt and Qatar, India announced its intention to buy 36 Rafales off the shelf from the Mérignac line - double the 18 planned under the protracted Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) requirement for 126 aircraft (with 108 to be licence built in India). While this should serve to finally unlock the deadlocked MMRCA programme, for which Rafale was downselected in January 2012, it may also kill off the bulk of the requirement. Indeed, speaking on 21 May Indian defence minister Manohar Parrikar appeared to confirm that a deal to licence-build the Rafale would now not happen. "By buying 36 Rafales instead of 126, I have saved the cost of 90 Rafales," Parrikar said, adding that India would instead opt to buy more of the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).
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TFX Turkey is also seeking to join the fighter club, with its ambitious National Fighter Aircraft (Milli Muharebe Uçagi: MMU) programme seeking to fly an indigenous fifth-generation fighter by 2023.
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ihs.com Also known as the F-X or TF-X (and FX or TFX), completing the project could cost Turkey in the region of USD40 billion and stretch the country's defence industrial capabilities to the maximum. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has completed a two-year conceptual design phase for the MMU project, revealing three different designs near the completion of this phase in 2013. The designs - singleand twin-engine conventionally laid out fighters and a single-engine canard fighter - were based on requirements from the Turkish Air Force (TAF). The programme is currently in semi-official limbo, with the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) currently working out the details of the programme off the back of the TAI two-year study before a final commitment is made. Speaking to IHS Jane's in May, Cüneyt Sohta, director of aircraft programmes at TAI, said: "We have created three configurations that would acceptably approach the [TAF] requirements; this was the idea. Of course, each one has pros and cons: one is cheaper, but a little bit further from one of the requirements of the air force; the other is a big [aircraft], but it's costly to buy - maintenance is costly." With the concept design phase now complete, a programme management office (PMO) within the SSM and the TAF, partly manned by seconded TAI and other Turkish industry staff, are now working towards the next phases of the programme. [Continued in full version…]
Eurofighter With 430 aircraft delivered as of March 2015, the Eurofighter Typhoon is by far the most numerous of the modern West European fighter types currently in service.
Two Tranche 2 RAF Eurofighter Typhoons taking part in exercise 'Bersama Lima' in Malaysia in late 2011. (BAE Systems)
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ihs.com 1398998 As the only European fighter aircraft design to be a multinational undertaking, the Eurofighter has a sizeable domestic orderbook in the shape of Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy. Additionally, the type has received a large export customer in the shape of Saudi Arabia (72 aircraft), as well as two smaller customers in Austria (15 in service) and Oman (12 on order). The aircraft's design is principally focused on supreme air superiority fighter characteristics, with multirole considerations coming later in its evolution. Indeed, the Typhoon is generally regarded as being second only in air-to-air performance among Western military aircraft to the US Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The multi-national development and purchase of the Eurofighter has undoubtedly helped spread costs. Yet with some partner nations finding finances and requirements tighter than others it also appears to have held back some improvements to the aircraft, more so than for a single-nation aircraft. Consequently, Eurofighter currently lacks some of the air-to-ground capabilities (such as the Storm Shadow cruise missile) of the French Rafale and also still lacks an AESA radar (a persistent issue for the Typhoon). Initial tranches of the aircraft focused purely on air-to-air capabilities, although the Eurofighter Capability Roadmap, in the form of Phase Enhancements (eg: P1E), should see the Typhoon make up any comparative capability shortfall and indeed surpass its rivals in some areas. Tranche 1 Eurofighters featured a solely air-to-air capability, with 148 delivered to all current operators bar Saudi Arabia. A further 235 Tranche 2 aircraft have been delivered to all customers bar Austria, while the United Kingdom has also received 11 Tranche 3As.
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Russia Russia is currently the only European state actively developing and building a new fighter aircraft design in the form of the Sukhoi T-50 PAKFA. Designed by United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) subsidiary the Sukhoi Design Bureau and manufactured by the Komsomolsk-na-Amure Aviation Production Association (KNAAPO), the PAKFA is also the only European fifth-generation aircraft to have been designed and flown.
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Russia's Sukhoi T-50 PAKFA is currently the only European-designed fifth-generation fighter aircraft flying. Whether Russia will be able to afford to put the aircraft widely into service is another question, however. (Sukhoi) 1634571 The programme, a key priority for the Russian Air Force (VVS), has hit setbacks, however, with aircraft fires, production challenges, and economic conditions affecting the programme. An engine fire to the fifth flying prototype in June 2014 may be the most striking of issues with the programme. However, it is the broader issue of Russia's economy and the ability of Russia's industry to mass produce the aircraft that pose the greater challenges for the aircraft's future. Under current plans Russia will begin serial production of the type in 2016, but it has yet to place a contract for serial production. Initial plans had called for serial production to begin at a rate of eight aircraft per year, rising to 14 from 2019, with 55 aircraft planned to be delivered by 2020. The T-50 is currently powered by the Saturn/Lyulka 117S/AL-41F-series jet engine, although this may be replaced by the Salyut Iz 127/217 engine, currently being designed. However, it now appears that Russia may order just one initial squadron (12 aircraft) of T-50s. In March Yuri Borisov, Russian deputy minister of defence for armaments, stated that, although KNAAPO was ready to begin serial production in 2016, the Russian MoD was re-evaluating the number of aircraft it planned to buy. "Due to the newly emerged economic conditions our plans can be adjusted accordingly. A better approach now might be to hold the PAKFA in reserve and move forward on this later while in the meantime getting as much as possible out of our 4+ generation fighters," Borisov said. If Russia does decide to significantly scale back its plans for the PAKFA, it would be entering the same cycle it did for the majority of the post-Cold War period - where many new and sometimes radical aircraft were designed that either never entered service (such as the Su-47 or Mikoyan Mikoyan Project 1.44), or entered service in limited numbers. As a result, the VVS has a plethora of significantly different variants of the 'Flanker' and 'Fulcrum' series of fighter aircraft in service. According to IHS Jane's World Air Forces , of the 'Flanker' family the VVS currently operates the Su-27, Su-27SM, Su-27SM3, Su-30M3, Su-30MS, and the
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ihs.com Su-35S - with most of the later versions operated in only handfuls, often by only two or even a single squadron.
The latest version of the 'Flanker' series, the hyper-manoeuvrable Su-35S, is beginning to enter service in significant numbers and remains an air show favourite; an example is pictured here at the Paris Air Show in 2013. (IHS/Patrick Allen) 1523898 [Continued in full version…]
Gripen The smallest and lightest of the Eurocanards, the Saab Gripen has successfully ploughed its own furrow as a capable yet affordable modern fighter.
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Saab Gripens in service with the Swedish Air Force. (Saab) 1440899 Besides the Swedish Air Force (Flygvapnet), the single-engine Gripen is now in service with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Thailand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom's Empire Test Pilot School. In addition the type is on order for Brazil and has been all but selected by Slovakia. Not all has gone Saab's way, however; notably its aircraft was rejected by Swiss voters in a referendum in May 2014, with the loss of a potential 22 aircraft export order. Gripen is currently offered in three variants: the current-generation single-seat Gripen C and twin-seat Gripen D, and the new-generation single-seat Gripen E. The C/D model is the only type currently in service, with the Swedish Air Force's few remaining A/B models currently in the process of being upgraded to the C/D standard. The Gripen E, derived from the Gripen NG development aircraft, offers improvements to almost every aspect of the aircraft. While the more striking improvements may be the new Selex ES Raven ES-05 AESA radar and new General Electric F414G turbofan engine, few elements of the C/D remain unchanged from the E model. Indeed the only common items are the aircraft's canopy, ejection seat, outer elevons, gun system and some ancillary equipment, according to Saab. The aircraft's structures have been changed, with the new model having a slightly enlarged wingspan and width than its predecessors. The aircraft's internal fuel load has been increased by 1,100 kg, adding up to 800 km to its radius of operations, while the addition of two new fuselage pylon stations increases the aircraft's payload to 7.2 tonnes. Other improvements include the Selex ES Skyward-G infrared search and track (IRST) system, new and repositioned landing gear, integration of the Meteor BVRAAM, new electronic warfare and countermeasures systems, enhanced information, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities, and a reduced radar cross-section.
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FORECAST Although strong backing from home nations is vital to the health of any European fighter, it has been through the prism of exports that the success or failures of the various programmes has largely been judged. The similarities of the Eurofighter and Rafale - both being large, expensive, top-end, twin-engine fighters has led the two to go head-to-head in most competitions, although both have now found successes. The different characteristics of the Gripen have, meanwhile, allowed the type to compete with the Rafale and Eurofighter while also positioning for nations without the need or budget to accommodate the large, expensive, ultra-capable fighters being produced in the rest of the West. Meanwhile, Russia continues to find export successes with its traditional export customers. [Continued in full version…]
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IHS Jane's Defence Industry and Markets Intelligence Centre This analysis is taken from IHS Jane’s Defence Industry & Markets Intelligence Centre, which provides world-leading analysis of commercial, industrial and technological defence developments, budget and programme forecasts, and insight into new and emerging defence markets around the world. IHS defence industry and markets news and analysis is also available within IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly. To learn more and to subscribe to IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly online, offline or print visit http://magazines.ihs.com/.
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