WI: No Eurofighter Typhoon?
- Thread starter abc123
- Start date
abc123
Banned
So, what could UK make then? Go after Typhoon independently?
Join France with Rafale? Buy Raptor from Americans?
Britain had no money to develop Typhoon on their own. Raptor would mean that British airspace industry will not get big part of the cake and was very expencive...
Rafale- would French even let Britain in as equal partner so late- Rafale was more- less developed by that time...
What would Germany and Italy do? Buy F-16 or F-18 from Americans?
Join France with Rafale? Buy Raptor from Americans?
Britain had no money to develop Typhoon on their own. Raptor would mean that British airspace industry will not get big part of the cake and was very expencive...
Rafale- would French even let Britain in as equal partner so late- Rafale was more- less developed by that time...
What would Germany and Italy do? Buy F-16 or F-18 from Americans?
If its the early 90's then there's a real possibility that the project continues either as a British only project or with either the Italians and/or Spanish. There was a real determination in Britain to progress with it in some form, from what I remember there was real irritation in the Major Government and the Tory Party at the way the Germans were getting cold feet, apparently even looking for it to be changed to a single engine which would have required a complete redesign of the aircraft.
I can't see the project as a whole being canned if the Germans pull out because of the thousands of job losses it would have meant in Britain, the project would have been delayed several years and cost a lot more but it would have gone ahead in some form.
I can't see the project as a whole being canned if the Germans pull out because of the thousands of job losses it would have meant in Britain, the project would have been delayed several years and cost a lot more but it would have gone ahead in some form.
abc123
Banned
OK, that would mean that the Typhoon is even more British aircraft...
But would Italians and Spanish be ready to make for Germans, to pay more for development because Germans pulled out?
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
If it does continue the cost of the project sky rockets 26 + billion and the cost per planes goes up astronomically.
There was a big lobbying operation mounted by the Major Government to keep the Italians on board, including the lease of Tornado ADV's to replace some of the AMI's Starfighters as a stopgap. The Italians and Spanish would drive a harder bargain if the Germans had quit but they would also be looking at significant job losses if the programme died so I suspect some kind of deal would have been done.
abc123
Banned
Yes, but essentially, someone should pay for that...
British costs of development were about 6,5 billions pounds, German were somewhere around 5,5-6, so that would mean that UK should pay at least 2,5-3 billions more for development and Italy and Spain at least 1,5 and 1 billion respectivly.
Would there be any traction in trying to get the Saudi's to commit to the aircraft whilst in development and shoulder some of the development costs?
abc123
Banned
I'm not sure why would Saudis do something like that when they can simply buy finished aircraft later as they did OTL?
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
it is possible that they would but why would they the typhoon gave the Germans part of the work share.
abc123
Banned
I'm pretty sure that for pretty big order ( after all Germany did order 180 Typhoons, so somewhere the same numbers ) LM would be willing to have licence production ( or at least assembly ) of F-16 in Germany.
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
You are not forgetting they make the EJ200 engines for the ENTIRE group. Spain the radar and Britain the airframe.
Nor do I, I just wondered if anyone else could think of a reason for them to get involved.
abc123
Banned
Well, it seems that the Saudis were pretty intrested in technology transfer ( assembling the aircrafts in KSA ) so if UK/SPA/ITA offer them that, than maybe...
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
The Saudis would rather buy weapons than build them and if they did where are they going to build the factories and the runway the live in the middle of a FREAKING DESERT so no they would not go in with the build program.
NothingNow
Banned
Possibly. If they don't go for F/A-18s, F-15Es, Rafales or Gripens, or the Tornado ADV.
It's not like the F-16 was really tapped out as a design in the early 90's. A Block 50/52+ Falcon would still be reasonably competitive till the Mid 2020's, and longer if it received further updates.
Meanwhile, the Gripen is small, cheap to operate, and pretty much everything the Luftwaffe was looking for, and could reasonably acquire under a situation where Germany pulled out of the Eurofighter program, and the Tornado ADV has the whole benefit of being a cheaper, proven option that still provides local jobs.
gloster meteor mk3
Banned
The countries get money back with every export sale so the germans quitting in the nineties is a big no no.