By Kaan Azman
Eurofighter Typhoon, F-15EX, and Rafale are the current twin-engine 4.5th Generation fighters in the Western bloc with different focus areas.
TurDef’s meetings with U.S. officials brought a new subject into the agenda. Greece acquires Rafale jets and Turkiye is looking to acquiring European consortium’s Eurofighter. U.S. officials declared that they would love to sell F-15 fighters to Turkiye. While there was a misunderstanding of Boeing wants to promote its fighters or Turkiye wants to acquire this aircraft, TurDef underlines that the question is meant to understand U.S.’s approach to the subject. We have prepared an article to compare three fighters.
Eurofighter and Rafale from the EU stem from a common background, while the F-15EX is a recent upgrade on the legacy F-15E Strike Eagle fighter.
Eurofighter Typhoon results from the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, led by Germany, the U.K., and France. The program aimed to help fighters with air-to-air capabilities to succeed older fighters like Mirage 2000, F-4 Phantom, and Panavia Tornado fighter bombers.
As the program came to the point of picking a configuration where France submitted its own, the conclusion led France to pursue its programme, which eventually evolved into Rafale. Another factor in this departure is France’s desire for its future fighters to carry nuclear weapons, which Germany has always opposed with a more defensive policy in combat aircraft development. The latter’s effect has also strained the conceptual design of the ongoing FCAS programme, in which Germany and France are the leading partners.
Eurofighter’s latest in-service model is Tranche 4/T4, while the F4 standard introduces greater commonality with NATO weaponry and has been introduced to the French Rafale.
F-15EX Eagle II is a fresh development of the existing F-15E Strike Eagle multirole fighter. F-15E has been used as a spin-off of the F-15 Eagle twin-engine fighter, which acts as the long-range air superiority fighter of the USAF, with more air-to-ground capability and new sensors. F-15EX aims to improve where the legacy F-15E excels alongside greater capacity for air-to-air combat.
The updates include the APG-82 AESA radar, a strengthened structure leading to longer service life and weapons capacity of 13+ tonnes, and new flight control systems.
USAF intends to use the F-15EX as an alternative to the fifth-generation F-35A, which requires expensive and complex maintenance procedures. F-15EX’s longer service life, one-third of F-35’s flight cost per hour, and larger weapons capacity without worry about stealth make it more of a workhorse than the F-35A oriented for deep strike operations.
F-15EX’s other customers include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Japan, Singapore, ROK, and Israel, as new aircraft or upgrade kits in a similar fashion to the lighter F-16 Block 70, which has the same technological standards.
Armament
Armament is where these three aircraft have a noticeable divergence due to different requirements during the development as well as the munition portfolio of the country/countries that developed the aircraft.
Eurofighter, which was developed by a consortium, was adjusted to accept both EU member and U.S.-made munitions ranging from AIM-120 AMRAAM, IRIS-T, AIM-132 ASRAAM, Paveway laser-guided bombs, JDAM GPS-guided bombs, and Storm Shadow or KEPD 350 cruise missiles. Eurofighter has 12+1 hardpoints, with the central one reserved for fuel tanks; the aircraft can carry a total payload of 9000 kg.
Over time, other munitions like Brimstone cruise missiles have been integrated to increase air-to-surface capabilities.
Rafale is more limited in this regard because France is the sole country of origin. Rafale can use MICA RF/IR air-to-air missiles as a multirole fighter, AASM Hammer guided bombs/rocket-assisted munitions, and SCALP EG cruise missiles. 14 hardpoints (13 for the navy version) are present with a capacity of 9500 kg. In addition to conventional munitions, Rafale can deliver nuclear weapons with the ASMP supersonic cruise missiles.
MBDA’s Meteor BVRAAM is a common advantage for both European aircraft due to its ramjet propulsion, which provides increased flight performance and, thus, a longer effective range. Meteor’s ducted solid fuel ramjet can adjust the thrust to optimal levels to ensure the burn at the right moment and maintain high kinematic performance. This advantage is against rocket-powered AAMs like AIM-120 and MICA, which fly unpowered after the ignition ends.
F-15EX, while it doesn’t possess a long-range AAM, has a much larger portfolio of munitions as a descendant of F-15E Strike Eagle. Most U.S.-made aircraft munitions can be carried in various load-outs thanks to the aircraft’s high payload capacity. F-15EX in air-to-air configuration can carry up to 16 AAMs thanks to multi-racks (Double, triple, or quad). These multi-racks also accept mixed carriages such as AGM-84K SLAM-ER cruise missiles with two AIM-120 AMRAAMs, contributing to the multirole prowess. F-15EX’s structural enhancements allow for more than 13000 tonnes of payload.
Sensors and Countermeasures
The air-to-air focused Eurofighter’s current variant T4’s sensor capabilities have been upgraded with Captor-E AESA radar and an updated version of PIRATE IRST.
Captor-E is one of the main advantages of Tranche 4 thanks to mechanical steering for high off-boresight engagements and multiple modes of operation (EW, SAR, air-to-ground, and potentially cyber attack). The radar has an instrumented range of 200+ km, according to Airbus.
PIRATE IRST is an alternative to radar, using infrared signatures emitted from the targets. Compared to the active-working Captor-E radar, PIRATE works passively, allowing for beyond-visual range detection. Modern IRST sensors have a range between 90-150+ km depending on the environment and target conditions (Speed, exhaust facing...).
In addition to detection suites, Eurofighter T4 possesses the Praetorian DASS suite. The comprehensive suite includes missile warning, laser warning, ESM, ECM, and countermeasure dispensers to protect the aircraft against missiles.
Rafale F4, in a similar configuration to Eurofighter T4, features RBE2 radar’s AESA version and OSF IRST system. RBE2 AESA radar displays a roughly similar figure to Captor-E regarding core capabilities minus the extra mechanical steering.
Like Eurofighter T4’s Praetorian DASS, Rafale carries Thales’s SPECTRA integrated self-protection suite. The suite comprises a central control module connected to laser warning and IR missile warning sensors, RF jammers, and chaff dispensers.
F-15EX’s new APG-82 radar combines the processor unit of APG-79 AESA radar used onboard F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-based fighters and the APG-63(V3) antenna unit from upgraded F-15Cs. The X-band radar has a detection range of 180+ km and can track surface targets with considerable performance, as it will also be integrated into B-52 bombers as part of modernisation efforts.
F-15EX lacks an onboard IRST system and carries Legion IRST pod depending on need. The pod can communicate with other Legion pods to share target information in addition to the core capabilities of an IRST sensor.
F-15EX’s self-protection suite EPAWSS shows similar standards to Praetorian DASS and SPECTRA as an integrated solution combining various bands of warning systems and countermeasures.
Flight Performance and Low Observability Measures
All three aircraft exhibit somewhat improved cruise speed compared to early fourth-generation fighters with limited super cruise capability at low supersonic speeds. This is due to drag from the external carriage and the lack of the same level of streamlining with super cruising fifth-generation fighters. This improvement can be attributed to newer generation engines.
A similar case goes for the combat range of twin-engine aircraft when they take on a considerable weapons load and use external fuel tanks. These figures are given in various sources at violently differing values, which depend on extra fuel tanks and armament load; thus, the three aircraft have been regarded as having similar combat ranges due to configuration and the usual combat loads. All three aircraft can simultaneously use conformal and external fuel tanks to reach long ranges.
Eurofighter and Rafale can be said to be capable of better turning performance due to their common delta wing+canard configuration, allowing for higher pitch manoeuvrability.
Rafale holds significant advantages on low observability measures due to RAM coating and serpentine air intakes. The engine fans’ metal composition is susceptible in the frontal aspect, and the serpentine intakes distort the waves to prevent a return to the enemy radar from these sections. However, it should be noted that these measures’ effectiveness is limited and can’t approach the stealthiness of fifth-generation fighters with wide-scale optimisations in form, materials, and thermal signature reduction.
Conclusion
It should be noted that there is no “better aircraft”, as seen in the comparisons above, and all three have been designed with different needs in mind.
In Eurofighter’s case, air-to-air use is a leading factor in development, with inputs from partnering nations like the U.K. and Germany to adjust the weapons capabilities depending on needs. U.K.’s desire for more offensive capabilities has led it to integrate Brimstone light air-to-surface missiles and adopt the Captor-E ECRS Mk2 radar with increased electronic warfare capabilities for the next batches. Eurofighter is somewhat reserved regarding exports due to political reasons, such as being developed as a European fighter and the partner nation Germany’s frequent objections to possible exports, such as in the case of Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.
Due to France’s military operations in Africa and emphasis on strike capabilities, Rafale emphasises air-to-surface capabilities and is a part of the country’s nuclear triad. Otherwise, most of the aircraft’s figures resemble those of the Eurofighter due to their divergence from the project and similar configuration. France’s status as the sole manufacturer gives it greater export freedom, which has led customers of various backgrounds.
Meteor BVRAAM provides both aircraft with a longer stick against aircraft compared to others using traditional rocket-powered air-to-air missiles.
One disadvantage shared by Eurofighter and Rafale is the high acquisition costs, which exceed even the F-35s. Some of this can be attributed to the higher manpower costs in European countries compared to the global average.
F-15EX shows a balanced distribution of combat capabilities and is the most accessible of all three due to being available as both a new aircraft and a modernisation kit (In the case of ROK and Israel). The acquisition and operating costs can also be described as more advantageous thanks to common components with the F-15 family and other fighter jets from the U.S., like the F110-GE-129 turbofans (Common with F-16) and radar (APG-82 as stated before). Its weapons load is also a clear advantage, allowing for higher firepower or multirole configurations, thanks to structural enhancements and flexible multi-racks. However, the U.S. follows a stricter policy regarding exports compared to France, which has exported Rafale to Serbia, a country which would be denied by the U.S. due to its close ties with Russia.
