Originally Posted by dave angel

its not nearly as graceful as the Sukhoi, but thats not what its for.

both Typhoons current radar and the AMRAAM are, if not stand-ins, then not the radar/weapon that Typhhon was built for, Meteor BVRAAM and the AESA will take Typhoon to a level that it doesn't have at the mo. but lets not suggest that its some Heath-Robinson contraption that is of no use to man nor beast.

there is not one potential adversary that is flying anying that can touch Typhoon in an A2A context, no one in the ME, no one in the FE, no one in Africa, no one in South America. we are somewhat unlikely to go to war with the US and its F-22, and somewhat unlikely to go to war with India and its MKI. the Suadis might buy Typhoon, but everyone knows they can't maintain it without western contractors - and even if they could everyone also knows that they couldn't fight a sophisticated and complex air war, period.

Typhoon, even without AESA and Meteor, is more than a match for any realistic potential opponant, and thats good enough.