Eurofighter EF-2030 Cyclone

Eurofighter EF-2030 Cyclone
Eurofighter EF-2030 Cyclone
	File:CycloneDragonslayers.png A Cyclone from Commonwealth Air Force, 14th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Dragonslayers"
General information
Type	Multirole Fighter Aircraft
Manufacturer	Eurojet Commonwealth Military Aviation
History
Manufactured	2039-current
Introduction date	19. July. 2039

The Eurofighter Cyclone is the primary combat aircraft of both the European Federation and the North American Socialist Commonwealth. While initially developed as an in federation project, the Federation decided to show a great deal of trust in the young Commonwealth when it opted to allow its Military Aviation manufacturer to build the aircraft in vast quantities. It has since become the most common fixed wing Combat Aircraft in both the Commonwealth and the Federation.

Background and Service

Shortly after the Federalization of the European Union in the 2020s, the new unified Federal government realized that with the United States slowly descending into a state of anarchy, and with a resurgent Russian on its Eastern frontiers as well as growing instability in the Balkans, that it would need to step up as the predominant military power within its sphere of influence. To counteract the the new fighter designs that had finally begun production in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the Federation began a development of a craft to replace the Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale aircraft, as well as older frames from the cold war. This project dubbed the Eurofighter 2030 project made headway relatively quickly and resulted in a first flight in 2027.

Despite early initial success, infighting of the still new Federation over budget resulted in the delay of the project for quite some time. As a result the introduction of the first EF-2030s into the Federal Air Force did not being until 2039. The also young Commonwealth in the early 2040s asked the Federation if it could be allowed to produce the aircraft as well, having failed dramatically for quite some time to replace their own old air frames. Despite the dissension of a number of government members this was allowed, with the first Commonwealth Cyclones being delivered in 2044.

The Eurofighter Cyclone has since been involved in most conflicts that the Commonwealth and the Federation have both been involved with in the past 25 years. While large scale production of the Cyclone has been for the most part finished, both the Commonwealth and the Federation have made it clear that they will replace lost aircraft, and the Federation is still looking for potential buyers, particularly in the South East Asian region which is heating up in response to a resurgent China.

Design

Air frame

The Eurofighter Cyclone is of fairly lightweight design, with a large percentage of the frame being made of composite materials with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) being the predominant material. However, to allow for greater stress tolerances the Cyclone is built with more metal alloys than both of its predecessors with Aluminum-Lithium being the most common alloy with Titanium based alloys also being common. The Cyclone is with stealth in mind with both passive (shaping, reducing jet inlets, highly swept design) and active measures (passive jamming) incorporated into the design to reduce the Radar Cross Section (RCS) and heat signatures of the Cyclone, while not the stealthiest aircraft in the Commonwealth arsenal or on "prime" Earth it is highly regarded in this respect. Commonwealther variants sport a collapsing fuel probe to allow the Cyclone to refuel mid-flight without compromising the stealthy shape.

Propulsion

The Cyclone is powered by the EJ-230 Engine, a substantial redesign of the EJ-200 designed with greater performance in mind, without killing the long range fuel efficiency of the Cyclone. The EJ-230 is an extremely powerful, low bypass turbofan engine, akin to the engines on the larger Raptor aircraft. The result is an extremely powerful, some may say overpowered aircraft. The Cyclone's engines result in a Thrust to Weight ratio of 1.2/1.These engines are capable of three dimensional thrust vectoring, which results in a powerful maneuverable design.

Avionics and Electronics

The Cyclone, electronically is an evolution of the Typhoon in many ways. It does depart from its predecessor in a few ways however. The Cyclone is flown via an advanced fly-by-light control system, which enables a pilot control of the aircraft much more easily than would be expected. Most of the sensors, and defense systems are managed by a Low-Sapient Artificial Intelligence referred to as "Praetorian II", one of the first ever included in a design. Praetorian receives most input from the CAPTOR II and PIRATE II sensors as well as threat information and distributes this information to the pilot in an ordered format in order to assist with the Observation and Orientation parts of OODA. Praetorian also handles the damage control systems and can be allowed control over the electronic and physical countermeasures of the Cyclone if authorized by the pilot. Active Countermeasures include chaff, flares, and a Electronic Countermeasures suite, as well as a Towed Radar Decoy.

Cockpit

The Cockpit is an all glass design for maximum visibility on the pilot's part. The Cockpit is not fully pressurized however, a number of systems are built in to ensure the relative comfort of the pilot. The Pilot is kept informed via a Heads Up Display both on the pilot and also through the Helmet Mounted Display (HMOD), which is kept up to date by Praetorian. This information is supplemented by additional screens which have weapons information, and controls. It is through these screens that the pilot may fire weaponry, as well as manually control Countermeasure systems.

Armament

The Cyclone was built from the ground up to be a multi role fighter with strong capabilities in Air-to-Air, Air-to-Ground, and Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) Missions, with a limited Anti-Satellite (ASAT) capability. Primary Armament is located in the two weapons bays underneath the fuselage of the aircraft which has room for up to four weapons of up to 1,000 kg each. Additionally, when totally reduced RCS is not necessary, there are six more hard points on the wing with the inner two capable of mounting a heavy pylons for additional capacity (generally used for mounting anti-shipping missiles, anti-satellite missiles, and heavy anti-radiation missiles). The external hard points are capable of mounting rocket pods, laser guided bombs, and additional fuel tanks. The Cyclone is also armed with a rotary 30mm cannon the BK-30 with up to 300 rounds of ammunition stored internally. Cyclones can optionally be fitted with a counter missile system, this system utilizes small short range low payload heads to intercept incoming missiles, and hopefully cause a premature detonation, mounts can be found on the wings, and if utilized will carry two low visibility 10 missile packs.

Variants

File:Naval Cyclone.png

A Commonwealth Naval Cyclone

Throughout the service history of the Cyclone there have been a few minor improvements made to the fleet in order for them to perform better, mostly in the form of electronics upgrades and similarly small patches. A more noticeable variant of the Cyclone however, is the Navalized version in service with the respective navies of the Commonwealth and the Federation, which features an arrester line which retracts like the landing gear when in flight. Additionally all Commonwealth aircraft vary from Federation aircraft in that they feature a retracting refueling probe, as opposed to the non-retractable refueling probes found on Federation Aircraft. In addition, some Cyclones are fitted with Electronic Weapons Pods. These Cyclones, often referred to as Spark Cyclones (or Sparkclones) serve as small, combat capable, Electronic Warfare Aircraft for service alongside fighter variant Cyclones.

Specifications

General Characteristics EF-2030: Commonwealther Variant, Base Model

Type: Multirole Fighter Aircraft

Crew: 1 (Pilot)

Length: 17.86m

Wingspan: 12.71m

Height: 5.28m

Propulsion: Eurojet EJ-230 Afterburning Low-Bypass Turbofan

Dry Thrust: 26,000 lbf (116 kN) each
Thrust with Afterburner: 38,100 lbf (170 kN) each

Total Net Thrust:

Dry: 52,000 lbf (232 kN)
Thrust with Afterburner: 76,200 lbf (340 kN)

Thrust-to-Weight Ratio: 1.223/1 (Dry)

Empty Weight: 17,000 kg

Maximum Take-Off Weight: 42,500 kg

Minimum Fuel Weight: 10,700 kg

Maximum Fuel Weight: 16,000 kg

Normal Payload: 8,000 kg

Maximum Payload: 16,000 kg

Normal Combat Weight: 41,500 kg

Performance

Combat Range: 1,850 km

Ferry Range: 5,000 km

Operational Ceiling/Altitude: 50,000 m

Maximum Altitude: 70,000 m

Cruising Speed: Mach .89

Supercruising Speed: Mach 2.0

Maximum Speed: Mach 2.5

Armament

Limit Per/Number of Pylons:

2x Internal Weapons Bays with 4 stations (1,000kg capacity each).
2x External Hardpoints of 1,000 kg capacity (on Wingtips)
4x External Hardpoints of 1,000 kg capacity with the option for heavy pylons with up to 2,000 kg capacity. (On Wing)
2x Counter Missile Hardpoints with 250kg total capacity each (on wing roots)

Mauser BK-30 30mm Rotary Cannon with 300 rounds of ammunition

Allowed Armaments (For NASC Variants only)