This European fighter jet now wields potent long-range missiles, but its design still struggles against advanced air defense radar.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
The somewhat classic and highly regarded European Typhoon fighter has been upgraded in recent years with a new generation of long-range, air attack precision weaponry, yet the upgrades have not given the aircraft the kind of stealth properties necessary to evade the newest deployed air defenses.
Not Stealthy Enough
With external hardpoints and some sharp edges, the fuselage of the Typhoon does not appear to be blended in a stealthy way and operates with as many as 13 external hardpoints. The front of its fuselage appears to include an angled incline and less like the kind of smooth, blended exterior necessary to minimize a radar return rendering to enemy air defenses.
In recent years, the Eurofighter has been armed with a high-tech weapon called Storm Shadow, a stealthy cruise missile which was used in Operation Iraqi Freedom to destroy Sadaam’s bunkers in 2003. The weapon can function with a controlled detonation, main warhead with a variable delay fuse and specially engineered double-charge explosive effect.
Storm Shadow Strike
This gives the missile an exceptional penetrating ability as it has the precision engineering to fire two cruise missiles through the same opening. As far back as 2014 at the Farnborough air show, former UK Royal Air Force pilot Paul Smith and fighter weapons school instructor told Warrior Maven that the aircraft operates with multi-mode GPS and an inertial navigation precision guidance system called “terrain reference technology.”
The jet carries cruise missiles and weapons beneath the wings and also operates with an internal weapons bay. However, the engine inlets, wings and hardpoints simply have too many protruding shapes and sharp angles, contours which enable electromagnetic pings from enemy radar to bounce off and deliver a clearly return image.
With a more precise electromagnetic return, air defense systems are much better positioned to acquire the shape, size, speed and configuration of an aircraft. A stealthy blended wing-body configuration and a smoother, less-angled fuselage makes it very difficult for enemy radar to acquire a clear, accurate electromagnetic return signal.
The Advantage of Stealth
The B-2, for instance, is said to appear as though it is a bird to enemy radar, in large measure due to the absence of sharp protruding external structures much more likely to generate a return signal. While not the complete blended wing-body of a B-2 bomber or 6th-gen image, the F-35 clearly operates with a stealthier configuration than the Typhoon, although it does have tails and protruding wings. It does have a beast mode wherein it can load up with external weapons, yet the exterior of the F-35 is smooth, blended and built with special bolts, seams and radar absorbing composite materials.
The Typhoon has been developing for years, and is known for its high-performing thrust-to-weight ratio, lightweight carbon fiber composite materials and “swing-roll” capability, the former pilot Paul Smith said.
Along with 13 hardpoints, and GPS and laser-guided bombs carried by the Typhoon, the jet can also attack with 2,000, 1,000, and 500-pound GBUs and the Paveway IV, a 500-pound laser-guided bomb.
Brimstone II
The Typhoon enhancements have also included the addition of a short-range stand-off missile called Brimstone II. This precision-guided weapon has also been in service on the British Tornado aircraft. Originally designed as a tank-killer weapon, Brimstone II is engineered with an all-weather, highly precise millimeter wave seeker. In Afghanistan many years ago, a Brimstone was used to destroy an Al Qaeda terrorist on a motorcycle traveling at 60km per hour.
Eurofighter was armed with a European missile called Meteor, which significantly increases what pilots refer to as the “no-escape range” – the distance or point at which an air-to-air adversary cannot fly away from or “escape” an approaching missile.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel.