Modern Emergency Fighter

[Weaver]

It says in the intro that this scenario takes place in the near future, so the provost and gnat would need serious overhauls so as not to get torn to shreads, the hawk might be a good start, but I can't recall how many hard points it has so I have a few doubts about its ground attack capabilities.

The Hawk has between 3 and 7 hardpoints depending on the version, and up to 6,500 lb of weaponry, including a 30mm cannon pod and Sidewinders (some versions). It's pretty potent.

Wow, thanks for the info never realised it had 7 hard points, I thought 5 max, love it wearing the cannon pod though

Just to be clear, that's 7 including the wingtip missile rails.

[Weaver]

Develop a slim fuselage, onto which fit the wings, engine pods and empennage of a Lear Jet: instant cut-price A-10 (but faster). That'd be ironic because the original Lear Jet's wing was developed from that of the cancelled Swiss P-16 fighter.

[Weaver]

The Textron Scorpion shows what's possible. It was developed from concept to first flight in two years, and that by private industry without a government contract: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textron_AirLand_Scorpion

[Thorvic]

The Textron Scorpion shows what's possible. It was developed from concept to first flight in two years, and that by private industry without a government contract: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textron_AirLand_Scorpion

And because of its cheapness to both buy and operate its starting to appeal to governments looking for replacement aircraft for 2nd line military types that have reached the end of service. The UK has looked at it this year for both he RN FRADU operations with 736 sqdn and the RAF with its 100 sqdn. It remains to be seen if they will be ordered but its a handy alternative that's appeared and made people think their are alternatives

[perttime]

The Hawk has ...
It's pretty potent.

I hear an F-16 pilot can be quite upset when a skilled Hawk pilot "shoots him down" in a one-on-one exercise...

[hogge]

Self-targeting weapons seems like something obvious that I should've thought of. Question is, how self-targeting are they? What on-board equipment is required?

And regarding engines from civilian aircraft, how much stock of spare parts is there in Sweden?

And how much weight would it add to make the plane largely from steel? Is Aluminium recycled from soda cans a viable aircraft material?

Finally, in what range are the specs of let's say a HAWK's computer? Would it be possible to take civilian hardware (an iPhone or iPad, so that it's guaranteed to be enough of them in the country) and use them as substitutes?

I believe that quite a stable platform is needed, since there may not be resources to give them modern (or in worst case: NO) avionics. What would such an airframe look like?

[MikeD]

• Metal Storm: When you can never have too much dakka
  

Are you building a small, 'stealthy' drone or are you building something the size of a 747? You can have either small and stealthy or you can have something big and powerful enough to lift the ammunition for something allegedly capable of firing 1,000,000 rounds a minute...

[perttime]

I believe that quite a stable platform is needed, since there may not be resources to give them modern (or in worst case: NO) avionics. What would such an airframe look like?

You can build an airframe that looks like Gripen, F-22 or Colonial Viper - and fly it with little or no software. Getting it to perform like one, and to have situational awareness and tactical capabilities is harder.

[Weaver]

Well planes flew for many decades without computers and were pretty agile too, so if you're going for a ground attack type rather than a dogfighter, just go for the well established shapes and formulas. Remember that if you want to build this thing quickly, de-risking is going to be a very big deal: you don't want to be doing any cutting-edge experimental work.

As to what technology to use, you've really have to do a survey of what capabilities exist in Sweden. If there's somebody with a facility that can make large composite structures, then use them. If not, go with fabricated aluminium, which doesn't require big facilities/machines to do it and can be taught relatively quickly. You can see a similar industrial dependency in pre WWII tanks: some countries had factories that could do large castings, some had factories that could weld thick steel, and some had no option except rivetting, and these pretty much dictated what hull designs they could use.

[Captain Canada]

Lavi

[perttime]

You can see a similar industrial dependency in pre WWII tanks: some countries had factories that could do large castings, some had factories that could weld thick steel, and some had no option except rivetting, and these pretty much dictated what hull designs they could use.

Seemingly small things can disrupt the availability of things or methods. WW2 Germany and Finland going for wooden aircraft structures is a good example of vulnerability: the idea was sound - but then one British bomber crew accidentally dropped their bombs on the factory producing the good glue.... Substitutes were found but they were not good enough for producing reliable airframes.

[Geoff]

I think the F-5A sums up the whole concept rather well. So an armed trainer with scabbed on armour is probably the modern equivalent? How about a fleet of L-39s or Hawks??

[perttime]

Couldn't resist:


https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/q83/p180x540/11896231_880758068660458_1038823285367574974_n.jpg?oh=2f60bd2036b114003cf80b924d8bc911&oe=56787537

Facebook photo from:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alfred-Frank-Modellturbinen/259935224076082

[DarrenP2]

there was the 200 series hawk. At the time I always wondered should they have built them with the Blue vixen radar

[MikeD]

I think the F-5A sums up the whole concept rather well. So an armed trainer with scabbed on armour is probably the modern equivalent? How about a fleet of L-39s or Hawks??

The UK always planned to use Hawk as an emergency fighter if another world war had broken out - they'd have gone up with a Phantom/Tornado to guide them on to the enemy and then engaged with AIM-9.

Don't know if we still have either the contingency plans or enough Hawks to make it viable. Knowing the British way of not really wanting to spend money on 'just in case' until roughly three weeks after it becomes 'jesus we really f***ing need that' (and even then we'd really prefer not to actually pay the cash out until the situation hits 'lads, those tanks coming up the hill, do they look a bit like T-72s to you?'), I'd assume we probably don't...