Re: Is agile, manuverable aircraft relevent in the era of advanced avainoics and BVR
Same applies to every aircraft bought from outside, be it f-16 or SU-30... hardly matters.
It would apply especially to Libya because the airforce infrastructure is considerably outmoded. If I were to sell anything from F-16s to Mirage 2000s, the contract prices would be very high also.
When did they realized that? not in 2000's, Rafale was anyway in development since 80's.
Since we are at Mirage 2000/Rafale, Corbato, What exactly do you think Rafale will bring to french airfroce, that Mirage could not?, assuming all the spectra, avionics remaining same for both.
Thanks
The Rafale is significantly superior in both instantaneous and sustained turn rates. It would have better nose pointability and high angle of attack.
Firing a HOBS at different aspects do not produce the same % of PK. Firing it at the extreme boresight envelope will not produce the same percentage compared to firing the same missile right at the tail or if the aircraft is pointed at the target.
The Rafale is also faster, and that means superiority in BVR engagement, since it can use its speed to dictate the terms of engagement and is in a better position to run away, still one of the best means to defeat a BVRAAM.
The thing is, what you didn't see with the European canard example is that the use of flexible canards with FBW controls would already allow nearly the same level of super maneuverbility as you would with a conventionally tailed aircraft with TVC. Thus putting TVC on a Eurocanard can result in maneuverbility that may in fact, be overly redundant, which I mean having capabilities that go beyond or have no purpose in a combat scenario. Remember the X-31 project? That combines canards and TVC.
The canards on canarded Flankers are not big enough to be true control surfaces and act more like variable vortice generators for maintaining the aircraft at high AoA.
TVC itself does not improve high speed maneuverbility. What it does is improve low speed maneuverbility, especially near the stalling point. But low speed maneuverbility is the one aspect that is actually being questioned for its future value. What is being sought after is high speed maneuverbility which is more important for combat scenarios, and canards are better suited to that. At higher speeds, aerodynamic surfaces exert greater control authority than TVC vectoring.
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