[AR] Re: Pilot, ALASA, and cubesat launch (was Re: some interesting developments)

  • From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 23:30:21 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 29 Jan 2016, George Herbert wrote:

The Tornado ADV has two under-fuselage tank hardpoints rated for 2,250 liter
tanks; I get about 9000 lb capacity if you can use both for your mount...

Hmm, I'm surprised it's that much. People think of the Tornado as a counterpart of the Phantom or F-15, but it's actually not much bigger than an F-18 -- if memory serves, when they decided they wanted Phantom-style semi-recessed mounts for four Sparrow-sized missiles on the interceptor version, they had to do a slight fuselage stretch to make enough room.

Nice plane, if you can afford it. But it won't be cheap to operate, and if you break it -- remembering that this is a combat aircraft, and hence airliner-like reliability is not to be expected -- good luck finding a replacement.

Henry

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