Vídeo de la primera misión operativa con el Brimstone en Red Flag, tras el salto: https://twitter.com/JustinReuterRAF/sta ... 3578541057
Este vídeo no es del Red Flag, es de la operación "Shader" sobre Oriente Medio, el mismo día que se retiraba al Tornado de esa misión: https://www.facebook.com/aerospaceanaly ... __tn__=K-R
En este enlace también nos aclaran la fecha de entrada en servicio del Meteor y del Storm Shadow, que se produjo el 31 de agosto de 2018. Por su parte, el Brimstone entró en servicio el 18 de diciembre.
Respecto a los alemanes, decir que su interés en el Growler choca frontalmente con su oposición a desarrollar la capacidad de ataque electrónico del CAPTOR-E tal y como proponían los británicos. Es más, dicen que no la quieren pero después la solicitan para sus 40 EFAs adicionales...
Al respecto pongo este interesante artículo de diciembre sobre el CAPTOR-E: https://www.monch.com/mpg/news/ew-c4i-c ... radar.html
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In November 2018, an experienced Luftwaffe TYPHOON pilot told MONCh that he hadn’t found himself, “in one situation where I wanted or needed E-scan,” and instead highlighted the excellent performance and capability of the M-scan radar, while bemoaning the absence of the PIRATE IRST on German EUROFIGHTERs, and the relative shortage of LITENING LDPs (laser designator pods) for passive long range visual identification.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, some RAF pilots with experience of operating over Syria view the M-scan radar as being on the verge of complete obsolescence, with an inherently greater vulnerability to jamming and an inability to fully exploit the performance and capabilities of new weapons, including the METEOR BVRAAM. For some within the RAF, even the Radar One Plus represents an inadequate answer to future requirements, and this underpins the UK’s unwillingness to sign up to a common four nation radar based on this standard, and explains the UK’s long-standing aspiration to acquire a more advanced E-scan radar, with expanded electronic attack and other advanced capabilities.
Thus, although the UK is participating in the four nation E-Scan development programme, a more advanced derivative of Captor-E, currently known as ‘Radar Two,’ is also being planned to meet UK requirements.
As with the quadrinational Radar One Plus programme, there is no funded production programme for Radar Two. A yawning gap in the UK defence budget, together with the uncertainties surrounding Brexit and the Comprehensive Spending Review has pushed the Modernising Defence Programme (launched in July 2018) to the right, and no decision is likely before the planned 2020 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Thus, while the UK has a requirement for an ambitious and advanced E-scan capability, within a particular timeframe, there is little clarity as to what the level of commitment and budgets will be, going forward, and even as to what the required timeframe actually is.
But despite this lack of clarity, Des Balmforth, Vice President for Airborne AESA Radar for the Airborne and Space Systems Division of Leonardo has confirmed that the company is 'on contract' for risk reduction work in support of the UK Radar Two AESA.
Under the E-Scan Extended Assessment Phase (EAP) project announced by David Cameron at Farnborough in July 2016, Leonardo is maturing the required technology under a series of incrementally funded programmes and risk reduction activities. As such EAP is the successor to the former Bright Adder TDP (Technology Demonstration Programme), which developed and matured certain of the techniques and technologies that would be required for Radar Two, and which effectively morphed into the Extended Assessment Phase.
But while Bright Adder concentrated on the various separate elements that make up an overall system, such as the processor, transmitter, antenna, rotation system, etc. the E-Scan Extended Assessment Phase project will concentrate on a complete system, and is moving towards a ground based radar testbed system that will go into Leonardo’s laboratories in Edinburgh for testing.
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Radar Two will be an incrementally improved version of CAPTOR-E, and will incorporate maximum commonality with Radar One Plus, especially in its hardware and operating interfaces, though it is likely to have a different antenna. This will still incorporate a repositioner, but may not have embedded IFF on the antenna, which can be disruptive to using the array as a means of communicating with other aircraft.
At one time, Radar Two was seen as being likely to be a UK-only project, but it formed part of the unsuccessful offering in the Belgian campaign, and may be specified by Saudi Arabia for its new batch of 48 aircraft. There have been reports that the first of these aircraft could be delivered with an interim fit of ex-RAF Tranche 1 M-scan radars taken from the ten or so two-seaters that have been withdrawn from use and stripped for spares. They would then undergo a later retrofit of Radar Two.
Italy has reportedly showed interest in the Radar Two while more recently, it has been reported that German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen may favour a buy of 40 TYPHOONs with Radar Two to replace the Luftwaffe’s ageing TORNADOs.
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A destacar la declaración de los británicos sobre la obsolescencia del radar mecánico.