X-31

[rattmuff]

I red in the Swedish Armed Forces Military Aircraft Recognition Guide about X-31 project. Then I googled and compared the information.
What google didn't mention was that it had been fitted with a swedish RM-12 engine (the Gripen engine) enhanced with thrust vectoring in February 1998 and that the Swedish goverment along with several other countries has a finger in this.

I found many pages saying the same thing but one had much more "up-to-date" information on the X-31.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/x-31.htm

Where could this go in a 25 year perspective? A new "EFA"? Maybe a new Gripen engine?

Here are some media:
Mongoose Maneuver
Herbst Maneuver

 

[PETER671BT]

I red in the Swedish Armed Forces Military Aircraft Recognition Guide about X-31 project. Then I googled and compared the information.
What google didn't mention was that it had been fitted with a swedish RM-12 engine (the Gripen engine) enhanced with thrust vectoring in February 1998 and that the Swedish goverment along with several other countries has a finger in this.

I found many pages saying the same thing but one had much more "up-to-date" information on the X-31.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/x-31.htm

Where could this go in a 25 year perspective? A new "EFA"? Maybe a new Gripen engine?

Here are some media:
Mongoose Maneuver
Herbst Maneuver

I wonder if this does happen,the plans in take sit under the plane like x-31,they'll in the same position.Typhoon -eads might have alot to do with program aswell.

 

[rattmuff]

I wonder if this does happen,the plans in take sit under the plane like x-31,they'll in the same position.Typhoon -eads might have alot to do with program aswell.

Na. Since the EF2000 project started 1983 and X-31 might have started 85-90.

 

[Scorpion82]

The X-31 was jointly developed by Rockwell from the US and DASA (now EADS) from Germany. It was a german (don't know his name anymore) who had the idea of thrust vectoring in the 1970s for the first time. The X-31 could be seen as a result of this first idea for TVC.
The aircraft was powered by a F404-GE-400 in the first test series. A second test series was started later around 2000. AFAIK the swedish showed interest, but rejected latter due to financials. I have no idea about a RM-12 being used, but generally this engine is based on the F404.

For the Eurofighter a TVC equiped EJ200 was built by MTU Aeroengines from Germany and ITP from Spain (both partners of the 4 national Eurojet consortium). The engine was bench tested on the ground in July 1998. The basics are done for the EF2000 to receive a TVC equiped EJ200, if a customer requires it. But there're currently no contracts and the customers seem to satisfied with the aircraft's manoeuvreability/agility. For tranche 2 production aircraft the EJ200 with the new DECMU is designed with a TVC upgrade in mind and TVC is still offered as a future option especially for tranche 3 examples.

 

[vivtho]

The X-31 was a pure research project, without any intention of converting it into a production aircraft.

As such, it was a marvel since it was built 'on the cheap' and used components from many existing aircraft. IIRC it used the landing gear from the F/A-18, the F-16 HUD, Gripen engine etc.

In a magazine article (it's been a very long time and I've forgotten which magazine it was), it was clarified right up front that there was no intention to make it into a combat aircraft. The cost of modifying it to such a configuration would have been many times the cost of the development program and would have resulted in a fighter that had poorer performance than the X-31.

If you are curious about how it would perform in combat, there is one option available to you ... look for a copy of the Jane's Fighters Anthology or Jane's ATF Gold flight sims. They provide a combat capable X-31. Enjoy