Del número de diciembre de la revista Eurofighter World:
https://www.eurofighter.com/downloads/E ... _World.pdf 
Selecciones de la entrevista al Air Commodore Ian Duguid, jefe de la fuerza de Typhoon, sobre el futuro de la RAF y el mix Eurofighter/F-35. El Typhoon seguirá siendo clave al menos 25 años más (hasta 2040); en la década de 2020 aún será mucho más numeroso que el F-35; el mix F-35/Typhoon es el camino y va genial; y aún formando parte de ese mix, el Eurofighter seguirá siendo estos 25 años el único proveedor de una tarea: las QRA, que es la misión clave de la RAF. Como detalles, dice que no cree que el EFA vea una MLU dado que se va mejorando cotinuamente y de hecho siguen pensando en mejoras, además del proyecto Centurion (P1Eb FW (Further Work), P2E y la exclusiva inglesa P3E) y el AESA, ya están mirando para 2020 p.ej. cambiarle las pantallas de cabina y si cambiar el HUD o decidir ir a todo visor de casco (como en el F-35):
...First, while we all recognise the capability of the F-35 as a low observable, modern fighter with a highly capable sensor, the bottom line is that
the backbone of the RAF’s combat air power is going to be provided by Typhoon. “That’s going to be
the case for at least the next two and a half decades because the UK Government’s Strategic Defence Spending Review of 2015 saw an
extension of Typhoon’s life out to 2040, and that’s really good news.
“Typhoon will be hugely important and it will remain relevant for two main reasons: firstly, because of its capability, and secondly, because of the relative size of the forces we will have.
The RAF aspires to have eight Typhoon squadrons by the early 2020s, by contrast the F-35 Lightning Force will comprise two front line squadrons. You can see straight away, from that ratio, Typhoon will be hugely relevant.
“But it’s not just a question of numbers, the important bit is capability.
Typhoon will bring an awful lot to the party and Typhoon and F-35 will complement one another.” This idea that the two in tandem will offer the UK force a capability that is greater than the sum of the individual parts is fundamental to the UK’s air power strategy. The man who heads up the RAF’s Typhoon Force says interoperability is already a key focus.
...
Many aircraft go through midlife upgrades in order to extend their life, but the Force Commander believes
it may not be necessary for Typhoon thanks to the existing road map. He says: “Typhoon is continually undergoing incremental upgrades... For example, in the early 2020s we may potentially look at upgrades to the displays within the cockpit and start to examine the next generation of head up display or whether we go to a helmet-mounted system... the delivery of Project Centurion [P1Eb FW (Further Work), P2E y la exclusiva inglesa P3E] and E-Scan radar is effectively like that anyway, except it isn’t coming midlife
...
Equally the Typhoon Force has exercised regularly with the US Air Force F-22s, a 5th gen platform which has similar characteristics to the F-35 (though it’s more an air superiority, air dominance capability). Typhoon has worked really well with it. We’ve been able to develop really good systems and functions working with F-22 that we are going to take into the F-35 work... We are also doing co-operative work in the simulators... to develop our interoperability procedures... “Obviously I can’t say too much about the details of the tactics and techniques that are being worked through in the current interoperability trials, but in broad terms it (the combination) gives us real options... “We have a Typhoon that flies at supersonic speeds high in the atmosphere, add to that E-Scan radar with a Meteor missile and a considerable amount of munitions and a sensor suite that would work with F-35. The F-35 would be able to share a lot of its information.
In some scenarios it [F-35] might go out in front of a package of Typhoons to sense the air and ground environment and pass that information on. “Equally there may be times and missions that mean the combination is the other way round — with Typhoon out there in front, high and fast, with F-35 coming in behind.
...
As well as its role in an integrated force mix,
Typhoon will still own one key task. “Ultimately Typhoon will continue to provide Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) for at least the next 24 years and QRA is the backbone of UK air defence. “We have a Typhoon that flies at supersonic speeds high in the atmosphere, add to that E-Scan radar with a Meteor missile and a considerable amount of munitions and a sensor suite that would work with F-35. The F-35 would be able to share a lot of its information. In some scenarios it might go out in front of a package of Typhoons to sense the air and ground environment and pass that information on. “Equally there may be times and missions that mean the combination is the other way round — with Typhoon out there in front, high and fast, with F-35 coming in behind.
Entrevista también disponible en:
http://www.sldinfo.com/raf-air-commodor ... r-typhoon/
Hablando de QRA y scrambles, detalle sobre el Captor: sus modos de identificación visual (el radar puede crear una "imagen" del objetivo):
The radar’s special visual identification modes help the pilot make a safe and efficient interception of the target.
Detalle sobre los modos rápidos del Eurofighter para salir en scramble:
The automated engine start-up, combined with several dedicated QRA-modes for the navigation system, allows for an extremely short time frame from scramble to wheels off the ground.
The auxiliary power unit can be started by ground crew while the pilot is entering the cockpit after scramble, again gaining precious time.
Sobre la capacidad de sus motores para salir rápido de scramble, por cierto cita una relación empuje/peso de más de 1,5 en esa tarea y supercrucero:
The Eurofighter’s twin EJ 200 engines give outstanding climb performance. It takes about 1 minute 30 seconds after take-off to reach more than 30,000 feet, all the while maintaining intercept airspeed.
With a best in class thrust to weight ratio — more than 1.5 — the Eurofighter boasts unmatched climb performance.
The aircraft’s Supercruise capability gives the Eurofighter the ability to intercept possible targets with supersonic speed, without the need to use reheat abilities (its afterburner), which optimizes fuel consumption.
Sobre el futuro del Eurofighter para 2040:
No-one knows exactly what the world will look like in the 2040s, but one thing we do know is that the Typhoon will still be in service, which is why Eurofighter’s ‘Long-term Evolution’ initiative has already started.
...
According to the authors of the Long-term Evolution initiative there are three main factors:
• Longer service life: Air Forces have already expressed an interest in flying longer than the original design life of the aircraft. The original specification was 25 years and 6000 flying hours, but Eurofighter Typhoon will comfortably exceed that. However, now that the customer wants to fly for longer, the question is how do you enable the jet to do that?
• Evolving threats: As Eurofighter is a top of the range fighter, the threats it has to deal with are evolving too. Hence, it can’t stand still, it needs to evolve as well.
• Advancing technology: One of the opportunities is not just to introduce new technology simply because it’s new or to avoid obsolescence, but to use it in a way that enables updates to be carried out quickly, cheaply and flexibly.
...
While the Eurofighter of the 2040s will look pretty much the same as it does today — it will have two engines and fly at certain speeds within its design envelope — its sensors and the weapons will evolve to enhance its operational effectiveness. So the next phase of the evolution will build on the foundation but take place largely ‘under the surface’ because, in the second half of its service life, Eurofighter Typhoon will be increasingly dependent on its avionics rather than on the traditional systems. But what it won’t be is one big data dominated midlife refresh. Indeed, that notion is regarded as being folly.
“Computing power is growing at an exponential rate, so even if we changed all the computers today, they’d be old within two years — the pace of change is so rapid. Therefore, rather than focusing exclusively on new computers, increasing memory and processors, we want to concentrate on how we can perform a refresh of the weapon system in a way that will allow us to accommodate faster insertions of new capability throughout its remaining life.”
One thing is for certain, information — in terms of data— is going to be key. Rob explains: “The rapid evolution in technology means there’s an expectation that more information will be exploited by Typhoon in the future. Whether that’s higher bandwidth, more pictures, videos, colour, and so on. Of course, all of this is going to take up more space, and on a fast jet space isn’t something you have an unlimited supply of.
“One key task to look at is how you can get as much information on board as possible, how you use that information in a proactive manner and how you can pass the information to other users, whether it be in the air or on the ground. And it’s about doing all this in real time.
...
“One factor that is gaining more and more importance is cyber resistance. Ensuring the aircraft is immune to cyber attacks through what’s variously called cyber hardening or cyber resilience is being taken seriously and forms part of our plans for the future.”
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Key candidates for upgrades, enhancements and new capabilities will be sensors and weapons.
“Avionics is the area where web technology is evolving quickest, and all key sensors are within avionics... “We are likely to need more Data Links than we have today — covert data links, high bandwidth data and so on... It all comes from sensor information technology, digitised information.”
With weapons the story is slightly different. What the team is trying to do as part of the initiative is to make weapons easier, cheaper and faster to integrate. They confidently expect the weapons portfolio to continue to expand, even within the Typhoon’s eight-strong customer community, as customer requirements are continuously evolving. “In general that means getting smaller weapons rather than bigger weapons and potentially using multiple weapons on a station, so things like Brimstone and the introduction of a Common Weapon Launcher, which by definition would carry more than one weapon on that launcher. In essence we’re moving away from one store per station to multiple stores per station, usually with small warheads, all individually targetable, therefore the amount of information is multiplied. They could be data driven, they will certainly be data hungry and it will be necessary to get data to the weapon quickly. That’s the sort of challenge facing us.”
Another area they are looking to address is turnaround times. Rob says: “If you need to land your jet, refuel, load up your weapons and get data on them before you take off again then the transmission of that information needs to be done quickly. The aim is to give the right amount of information to the pilot so that he’s got the optimum number of choices available for the weapons on board. And when the pilot fires them that they’ve got maximum accuracy.”
Also up for discussion is the potential for a new cockpit design that would allow the pilot to exploit any new sensors and weapons to their full potential. Initial discussions have already started on what a prototype would look like.
POTENTIAL FOR VARIANTS
To date, the Eurofighter Typhoon has been developed with what’s nominally a ‘one size fits all’ policy where, in other words, all aircraft can do all things for all their various air forces. But, that may change with the possible arrival of different variants. Rob says: “Looking ahead, the aircraft will still be able to do what it does today and more. However, there is the prospect of developing variants as you shouldn’t necessarily expect all the jets to do all the things, all of the time. “That’s important because, firstly, not all the pilots are trained to carry out all the roles, and secondly, if you don’t have to apply a modification across an entire fleet it can reduce costs.
“The idea of having different variants is something that’s been happening throughout aviation history. Indeed, even variants are often further subdivided. So we recognise that, while it should still be a multi-role aircraft and will continue to be so, there will be some potential niche roles that a ‘mini-fleet’ will be able to fulfil.”
En Italia el porcentaje de entrenamiento en simulador frente al de vuelo es también del 50%:
...the 20th Squadron Conversion Unit is responsible for training Eurofighter Typhoon pilots for the entire Italian Air Force... The mission training mix of live flying and simulators is split about 50/50.
Sobre el AESA:
the Euroradar consortium, led by Leonardo in Edinburgh, is hard at work developing the new ‘Captor-E’ AESA (E-Scan) radar. Once testing is complete, Kuwait will be the first nation to be equipped with a Captor-E Radar, providing advance fighter radar capabilities with a full suite of digital Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface modes. Flight trials of the E-Scan radar began in June, following successful completion of ground tests on a UK Typhoon test aircraft. The path is now clear towards full integration of the radar and Leonardo and its Euroradar partners say that they’re on track to provide the new radar to Kuwait.
Y eso era lo más interesante
venga va, y el ucas, no vamos a empezar otra vez en si contarlo o no 
(es el emoticono más parecido 
ocultar que realidad??? Que mas da que sea italiano o usa?? Como no sea que un efa con depositos puede dar un salto de lado a lado del charco y no quieren que se sepa..... no se me ocurren mas cosas que querer ocultar.....
