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It is Smart-S. Smart-L is a lot bigger and used for AAW/TBMD. That picture in the approaches looks like a smaller antenna than the SPS-49.

The article would be a whole lot more useful if he actually understood how radar and LO worked.

The German laser system is interesting, but not really usable shipboard yet. They may get it there in time to be included in a CSC design, they may not. They've had at least one major failure with integrating land systems on a ship lately, and that was with mature technology.

That's far too late in the design stage. They would need to be working and relatively debugged by the time the detailed design work is started. Leaving room for experimental systems to be installed later doesn't work, as the RN found out with CVF.

It isn't a display issue. The full EA/ED suite in a Growler requires a person operating the systems full-time, making decisions in real-time. They aren't going to be able to fly the aircraft as well. If it came to an F-35 EW variant that HAD to be single-seat, the pilot would have to be the one...

It would probably be cheaper to just build new ships when the new technologies come online and are debugged.

DAS would probably help the EWO in the second seat, but wouldn't replace the need for them. It would also drive the cost of integrating the EA gear up. What does that actually mean in terms of a Growler replacement?

I agree. The major issue with an F-35 EW variant is that there's no two-seater version to base it on, and creating that version will be VERY expensive. They're choking on the minor issue of fitting the NGJ to the F-35, so there's no chance of major issues like a second seat being developed.

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_01_23_2012_p24-415796.xml

The USMC dropped that plan a while back. They're going to use UAV's instead.

If only they would work on "gear that works".

The Upholders were designed and built with just that idea on availability. It hasn't lived up to the hype yet.

We heard that with the Upholder submarines too. As it happens their availability has been somewhat less than predicted.

The Banshee, Voodoo and Starfighter were far along the curve when they were bought. The Sabres were about halfway by the time they really got going. The only ones the RCAF was in on from the beginning were the CF-100's (for obvious reasons) and the CF-18's.

But it's traditional to buy US aircraft much further along in their cycle. Actually, the normal Canadian option would be to be the Super Hornets once they're being retired from the USN.

Wow...qualification has changed. A lot.  :o

At thousands of rounds per minute and hundreds of kilometers per hour? You must be a good shot.

So you want chariots and rowing galleys back?

Wouldn't the Polar Hawk be patterned after the USN version (minus the crashing into Maryland part)? It's supposed to have a radar and other sensors as well. Don't they need to be watched, or does it just pass tracks instead of raw video?

More in the Gobe today: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article4398883.ece So it looks like they're planning to use Iridium to fill in for any gaps in coverage to geo-stationary stellites. My original question (poorly phrased) was on how far away a ground station could operate a...