MRCA - The way to go in the 21st century?

Back again!

Just read an article on Airforce Monthly on how some air powers are starting to downsize their air-arms probably due to a change of government which of course leads to a change in policies and from there battle doctrine and the likes of it. With that said, the article focuses in particular the infamous Royal Air Force (RAF) and it's Tornadoes and Jaguars and how their roles have change since their inception into the force.

The Panavia Tornado has been developed as a supersonic, high-speed ground attack aircraft with the capability of short take of and landing (STOL). In short, it was the MRCA of it's day (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft). STOL was possible for the Tornado thanks to a variable sweep wing design meaning that when it's wing were fully swept forward, it had better 'lift' thus required a shorter airfield or road for take off and landing. In contrast to that, when the need arises for the Tornado to go at breakneck speeds, it's wing are fully swept back thus reducing drag.

The Sepecat Jaguar on the other hand was developed as a high speed trainer cum strike aircraft. The Jaguar is also able to take off and land in rough terrain thanks to robust design of its landing gears.

It's important to note that the requirement for both planes are to be able to operate from less that ideal conditions. I guess it's either England had a shortage of proper airfields or their roads are full of potholes! Just kidding.

Anyway, this post is not to discuss on the specs of the airframes but rather how much their roles have changed now in the modern battle field. As there is less and less air-air combat and sorties for strike and fighter squadrons, the RAF has decided on day that "Hey! Why don't we just fit a surveillance pod under them fighter planes and tada! they instantly become surveillance aircraft all the same. This way, the RAF was able to retire the ageing English Electric Canberra PR 9 squadrons which, like all old items, required more and more maintenance to make them airworthy. The Canberra's role was never really replaced but the recon job now fell to the Tornadoes and Jaguars.

Now, how do you actually enable an aircraft that is designed to chuck munitions and shoot missiles to now take pictures? No, the answer is not to add on an extra seat for a photographer but the solution to this is to add on the RAPTOR (Recon Airborne Pod for TORnado) Pod. An earlier version of this is the JRP (Jaguar Recon Pod).  Pictures below:

Tornado GR4 all geared up: The RAPTOR pod can be clearly see in the centerline pylon flanked by a pair of drop tanks, a pair of ECM Boz Pods and interestingly a single laser guided bomb, probably a GBU-12 mounted on the fuselage.

                            

Jaguar in Flight: The Joint Recon Pod (JRP) can be clearly seen mounted on the centerline pylon. This particular RAF Jaguar features over wing pylons to mount sidewinders and for the French, the Matra Magic.

Note:

Having said this, readers might also be interested to know that the JRP has been replaced by the Thales Vicon 18 (Formerly W. Vinten Ltd.). Despite all this, the Jaguar has been eventually retired in 2007 with all recon duties falling to the Tornado squadrons. 

VH's REVIEW

Looking at this current trend it does make 'dollar' sense for air forces who are on a budget to invest in pods such as the RAPTOR which by doing this widens the scope of an originally purpose built aircraft. This opens up opportunities for both companies to invest in R&D for such technology as there is a growing market for such technology to be incorporated into smaller air forces. For that matter, even the venerable RAF has already gone along this path least to say smaller air forces. Of course one may say that this step towards MRCA planes would mean the reduction of a crafts capability as there is no one airplane that can excel in everything. The MRCA would only be a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' which in the case of the RAPTOR has already received it's fair share of critics when been compared to other systems previously being used. All in all, systems like the RAPTOR would be a good solution for smaller forces or at best be a second option or act as some sort of auxiliary to the real deal. MRCA in this case, I for one would say is worth looking into. 

See you next post!

MITSUBISHI T-2

For my first review, i will be writing on the JASDF [Japan Air Self Defense Force] Mitsubishi T-2, an indigenously designed fast jet trainer and no, i did not manage to fly it. I just got inspired by a picture taken by my nephew now studying in Japan. :)

MITSUBISHI T-2 

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS 

• Crew: Two
• Length: 17.85 m (58 ft 6¾ in)
• Wingspan: 7.88 m (25 ft 10¼ in)
• Height: 4.39 m (14 ft 4¾ in)
• Wing area: 21.2 m² (228 ft²)
• Empty weight: 6,197 kg (13,662 lb)
• Loaded weight: 9,675 kg (21,330 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 12,800 kg (28,219 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Ishikawa-Harima TF40-801A afterburning turbofans

PERFORMANCE

• Maximum speed: 1,700 km/h (1,056 mph, 917 kn) at 10,975 m (36,000 ft) (clean)
• Service ceiling: 15,240 m (50,000 ft)

WARLOAD

• Guns: 1 × 20 mm JM61A1 cannon
• Hardpoints: One centreline and two underwing pylons
• Missiles: Provision for Two AIM-9 Sidewinder Air-to-air missile on wingtip missile rails

* You can find out more on it if you want via Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_T-2

VH'S REVIEW

The T2 was developed as a replacement of the Fuji T-1, which is quite obvious as a fast jet trainer. Back then, it was something of a fad in the 1960s for every air force to acquire trainer planes to train their pilots to pilot their new purchases at the time. In the case of JASDF, they needed a trainer that is capable of flying at Mach 1 - Mach 2. Now, many of you would ask, "Why in the freaking world does anyone need to go through all this trouble and develop a fast jet trainer to train pilots to fly fast jets!?". It's mind blasting to think that governments are willing to spend so much to develop a trainers jet just for this purpose. But then again, of course there are always political, economic elements that come into the factoring and that, we leave for another day's discussion.

Back at that time, Japan has newly acquired the state of the art Lockheed F-104J Starfighter which also explains why the T-2 has a very similar built in comparison to the F-104, namely it's short wing span and dart-like fuselage. This design is also very closely based on the Sepecat Jaguar [Joint venture betwenn the then Breguet and British Aircraft Corp]. It was developed jointly for the French Armee De lAir and British Royal Air Force [RAF] as both countries have similar specifications for a high speed jet trainer. One of the major differences between the two are it's landing gears. The T-2 has conventional landing gears while the Jaguar utilizes a pair of heavy duty landing gears for take off and landing on uneven terrain. On top of that, the T-2 also features a slightly longer and more streamlined fuselage as compared to the Jaguar. Coming to think of it, i'd bet that Mitsubishi would probably have faced some serious lawsuits in patent infringements and the like though i can't find anything of that sort in any online references. Ah well.

In terms of training features, the crew are seated in tandem with the trainee in front and the instructor behind. There are also 2 controls sticks naturally which is a common feature in any trainer aircraft. It allows the instructor to fly the plane just in case the trainee freaks out or something. One other safety feature of the trainer is it's ejection seats which has a device that breaks the canopy open in case the canopy does not fire off before the ejection. Why one may ask? Without the canopy broken or shot off, the pilots will be ejecting into the canopy which would of course mash their heads in and we certainly do not want that. 

For a trainer, it can carry quite a bit of munition which includes the American 20 mm JM61A1 cannon as well as wingtip mounted Sidewinders. T-2s also have 4 hard points installed underwing to enable stuff like drop tanks to be fitted in. All in all, the T-2 can pack around 2000kg worth of payload. However, most of these modification are made for the single seater Mitsubishi F-1 which functions as a strike aircraft version of the T-2. I'll perhaps cover this on another blog post.  

The T-2 is also made up of an avionics suite made indigenously, the Mitsubishi Electric J/AWG-11 as well as a host of other stuff coming from France and the US. 

Besides serving as a training platform and make-shift strike aircraft [F-1], the venerable T-2 has also served as part of the JASDF's aerobatics team, the Blue Impulse, served as a experimental test platform as well as part of the JASDF's Aggressor squadron. All in all, the T-2 has served the land of the rising sun for the period from 1975 - 2006, a whooping 31 years. Not bad for a trainer aircraft. 

Putting aside all the technical details and stuff, i believe the T-2 is a symbolic icon, where in it's day demonstrated to the rest of the world, mainly the west, that it is capable of designing and manufacturing a functional jet capable of reaching speeds of Mach 2. I would say that the T-2 is a significant achievement during that era for the Asian region especially during a time where the Americans were pitting against the them USSR in aircraft design with famous aircraft such as the Mig-21 and the F-4 Phantom.    

That's all for now folks! Till the next one. 

Welcome!

Dear readers. This would mark my first attempt at blogging on military interest across the globe as the topic has always been my passion since the day i laid hands on a battered copy of my brother's 'Airfix' modelling magazine. Many thanks to all who have encouraged me in starting this. It certainly is something that i would like to work on in the future.

If you wish me to feature anything, please do not hesitate to let me know. I'll review anything at the best of my ability.

Thanks all and i hope you guys will enjoy the posts. :P