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Questo è quello che BAE ha detto alla Commissione Difesa, preso paro paro dalla trascrizione dell'audizione:
Ian Muldowney (Chief Operating Officer, BAE Systems Air): From an engineering point of view, the tranche 1s have
quite a wide-ranging set of obsolescence. Being able to upgrade them to
be capable of operating at the same capability level as tranche 2 and
tranche 3 will be a significant cost. Just the life left on those airframes,
and not just the airframes but the equipment within them, would mean
that would be a huge cost to the Government. Taking those out of service
allows us to then have the investment to increase the capability on the
tranche 2s and tranche 3s. There was always a plan to take the tranche 1s
out.
Q115 Mr Francois: I accept that, but that plan was drawn up before Russia
invaded Ukraine. The world has completely changed—it is a total game
changer for defence. We have so few aircraft now anyway. Yes, there
would be a cost to upgrade those aircraft, but in an emergency you would
just pay what it costs. It takes several years to build a Typhoon from
scratch, so surely, if you had to fight a so-called come-as-you-are war,
even having those older aircraft, if you could upgrade them quickly and
put them into the frontline, is a much better option than literally having
nothing, is it not?
Ian Muldowney: It is an option that could be considered, yes.
Q116 Mr Francois: Has BAE Systems been asked to do any design studies at all
about upgrading the tranche 1 in a national emergency?
Ian Muldowney: In that context, no.
Q117 Mr Francois: If you were asked to do such, are you capable of doing it?
Ian Muldowney: Yes, we could look at what could be done, but whether
that would be a priority would have to be a conversation with the MoD and
the RAF. We would have the ability to answer the question, yes.
Q118 Mr Francois: You make the point that they are the service and you are
the contractor, and I completely get that, but you have the technical skill
to do it. If it came to it, it would be down to you.
Ian Muldowney: Us and our partners. It is not just us; it is our four
nation partners across the—
Q119 Mr Francois: If you had to upgrade those in an emergency, how quickly
could you do it?
Ian Muldowney: I would not like to guess, Sir.
Q120 Mr Francois: Could we have a note on that?
Ian Muldowney: We can come back with a letter if you wish, yes.
La lettera ha poi aggiunto cose che già sapevamo:
It is technically feasible to bring a Tranche 1 (T1) aircraft to the standard of a Tranche 2 (T2)
or Tranche 3 (T3) aircraft. BAE Systems has previously provided data to the Ministry of
Defence (MoD) that outlines the scope of structural and avionic modifications that would be
required. BAE Systems has not been asked to provide an assessment of the non-recurring
design effort, nor associated costs, to implement such an upgrade. However, Spain has
embarked upon a similar programme with some degree of concurrency available through
multiple modification lines.
Other Typhoon partner nations have also reviewed their fleets – Germany has concluded that
it will retire its T1 aircraft, but will purchase more aircraft under the Quadriga programme in
order to maintain combat fleet numbers. Italy are reportedly considering acquiring new
Typhoons, in response to the retirement of Tornado, and potentially to replace their Tranche
1 fleet.
It is worth nothing that there are some fundamental differences in the avionic equipment and
in some areas of the aircraft structure between the T1 aircraft and those in the RAF’s T2 and
T3 fleet. In addition, whilst the T2 and T3 aircraft share the same avionic equipment, there are
structural differences between the T2 and T3 build standards, with the T3s already provisioned
to accommodate the weight, power and cooling requirements of the RAF’s Mk2 ECRS radar.
Ad oggi solo la Spagna ha avviato un aggiornamento (parziale) dei T1 con specifici, limitati elementi comuni alle Tranche 2/3. Solo velivoli strumentali / di sviluppo sono stati aggiornati "completamente" ai livelli delle Tranche successive e il costo è stato giudicato sproporzionato per pensare di farlo con i velivoli di linea.
I tedeschi nello specifico piuttosto che ricostruire i Tranche 1 li sostituiscono con velivoli nuovi.
Quindi sì, i Tranche 1 potrebbero anche andare avanti ancora, con un ruolo limitato. Ma no, non saranno mai alla pari dei più recenti.
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