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Originally posted by waynos
you might well be right about the Su 35, it wasn't available when the evaluation was carried out and the MOD was looking at an older Flanker.
Unit cost of the Typhoon is �50-60m while unit cost of a Raptor is well over �100m, this isn't 'almost as expensive', its half. You are quite right about air to surface capability but as I said, air to air is the priority and its quite normal for an aircrafts secondary role to be added aftterwards, this isn't a problem, its normal procedure with a new programme. TVC on the type isn'yt my whimsical fancy, its a fact and a lot of money has been spent on developing the TVC variant of the engine by the partner nations. I don't understand why you find it so difficult to accept? The type is scheduled to be in service for 25 years and there will be many upgrades along the way, TVC is the first major one and a test bed will fly in the next few years.
BTW, if Typhoon WAS almost as expensive as F-22 then the British Govt, never mind the Germans, would have pulled the plug long ago. Sadly, preserving jobs and maintaining high technology industry wouldn't have come into it. Witness the TSR2, the most advanced strike aircraft in the world, almost twice as fast as the Buccaneer and F-111 at low level and faster than the F-111 at high and medium altitudes with greater payload and range was still scrapped purely on grounds of cost with not just all the prototypes virtually built but also the first 40 production aircraft in various stages of construction. Thats Britain, no long term overview just 'its too expensive BANG its gone, just like that.
Originally posted by Lampyridae
The going price for an EF-2000 is about US$60 million, if I recall correctly. The latest (worst-case) estimates put the F-22 at around $300 million. Total procurement requirements for the F-22 stands at about 217 at the moment.
The UK plans to buy over 232 EF aircrafts and THE WHOLE PROJECT for UK costs �38.3bn (BBC says) it is about 65 bilion $.
The cost to the UK of the Eurofighter project is estimated at �18.6 billion.
Originally posted by Lampyridae
England is not the only one procuring the EF2000.
do not call the UK england ever again
it is racist to call it that
Originally posted by longbow
Yes that with 32 bilion was false, my fault. I found an article on BBC,where the Eurofighter cost is criticized due to budget overuns, but the number shown was actually whole MoD budget for 2003 not the EF budget. Sorry. I am ashamed.
[Edited on 31-5-2004 by longbow]