Posted on 11/28/2013 12:16:01 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
MBDA’s Storm Shadow cruise missile has been flown with a Eurofighter Typhoon for the first time, with the combination having got airborne from Decimomannu air base in Sardinia on 27 November. Two of the roughly 1.3t weapons were carried by the combat aircraft, using hardpoints usually occupied by external fuel tanks.
Alenia Aermacchi
Performed by Alenia Aermacchi using instrumented production aircraft 2, the first airborne carriage trial marks the latest stage in a process which will clear the more than 250km (460nm)-range weapon for use with the Eurofighter from 2015. The work falls within a Phase 2 enhancement programme being conducted for core nations Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
“Storm Shadow is a major step forward, significantly increasing the air-to-ground capabilities of the Typhoon,” says Eurofighter chief executive Alberto Gutierrez. Its integration with the type will maintain the stand-off-range strike capabilities of the Italian air force and UK Royal Air Force after they retire their current Panavia Tornado IDS and GR4 fleets from late this decade.
Versions of the European-built weapon could also be employed by Saudi Arabia and potential Typhoon customer the United Arab Emirates.
Tiny suckers, as long as they go blam where ya want ‘em, great! How would they stack up against our stuff?
I’m confused. 460nm is 852km.
Umm-it was Yo-Yo who responded to your question!!
This is a heavier, longer-range cruise missile compared to the JSOW and JDAM, which are lighter, un-powered munitions (except the JSOW-ER).
That’s a bad typo- it should read 250nm (450km).
Probably a typo.
The publicized range stated at Global Security Org says 250k.
What exactly do those forward framis wings do? Always see them on Russian and Euro planes.
Would it be an oversimplification to describe the storm shadow as a mediocre alternative to a tomohawk cruise missile with less than a third of the range?
I've been told that they help with stability in nap-of-the-Earth flying, and I think they enhance safety during air-to-air refueling.
They are typically controlled by a fly-by-wire system. They respond faster than a human pilot can react.
Yes. The Tomahawk is a ship launched missile weighing almost twice the smaller fighter/bomber launched missiles mentioned in the article.
Would it not just be better to just buy loads of tomohawks and have ships launch them? Pretty much every potentially hostile nation has a coastline where naval ships/subs could have far more reach than any fighter bomber, even assuming the existence of a friendly local airfield.
1.3 tons?
doubtful they were real ones
probably just me
never mind
that was the turkey talking
They're called canards, and they enhance stability and give greater maneuverability.
“They’re called canards, and they enhance stability and give greater maneuverability.”
Why do we not typically have them on our planes?
There were experiments with them on F-16s when I was still in the Air Force. I don't know how they turned out.
canards are mostly fitted on delta wing designs in order to offset the disadvantagess of that configuration.
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