The Ministry of Defense confirmed the corresponding information from the APA on request. The planes are to be restored to the condition they were in before Minister Norbert Darabos (SPÖ) “mutilated them”. Specifically, it is about night vision and identification capability, electronic self-defence and the lack of main armament with radar-guided missiles beyond the field of vision.
Mid-range weapons canceled
The night identification capability and the electronic self-protection were canceled by Darabos in 2007 for savings of 250 million euros. The medium-range guided missiles were canceled by Darabos’ predecessor Günther Platter (ÖVP) so that the price remained below the two billion mark, remembers Georg Mader from the online platform “militaeraktuell.at” in an interview with the APA.
The night vision capability is an infrared search and tracking system that can identify flying objects at night. There are three options for this, explains Mader: night vision goggles for the pilot for around 15,000 euros each, external target lighting containers that are mounted under the plane and cost a few hundred thousand euros, or Stryker helmets for 500,000 euros each. According to Mader, it is questionable whether the originally planned facility, which would have been mounted outside the cockpit, is still available.
dummies as substitutes
Electronic self-protection is the device that warns the pilot if they are detected by enemy radar or an incoming missile. These devices are located in the wing tips and had to be replaced by weight dummies in the Austrian devices, according to Mader.
The main armament “has not existed since 2003”, four American all-weather radar guided missiles (BVR) would have been provided. These were canceled by Platter. What remains is the IRIS-T secondary armament. There are around 20 of them. Mader explains that this infrared-guided weapon cannot be used in bad weather and from a great distance because it needs a heat source.
According to Mader, the fact that Austria kept the initial jets from Tranche 1 and did not replace them in Tranche 2 – which also prevented Darabos – is of little relevance today. However, Tranche 2 would have had more powerful computers.
90,000 euros for a flight hour?
The military air expert is in favor of buying additional two-seat aircraft from existing operators. This would save you the extremely expensive training in Italy and Germany. Future Eurofighter pilots are currently being trained for a year on the PC7 at the Austrian Armed Forces, after which the pilots will go to Lecce in Italy for phases 3 and 4 of the training. Phase 5 takes place on two-seaters in Germany. “For this, the Bundeswehr provides us with the German full cost calculation, for an hour’s flight allegedly 90,000 euros are charged,” says Mader, who believes three to four two-seaters are necessary for the Bundeswehr.
Replacement for the Saab 105
According to the pilot community in Zeltweg, however, there is still a need for a replacement for the Saab 105, which was previously used for training purposes and as a substitute in airspace surveillance. “The non-replacement of the Saab has left a huge void in the Air Force,” said Mader. The flight hour of smaller jets is up to ten times cheaper than the Eurofighter hour and such aircraft are needed for flight safety-related practice flight hours, planned airspace security operations, but also for the defense against drones, which are becoming more and more effective today – as in the Ukraine.
Source: Nachrichten
