Sick.
Don’t remember what it’s called, but didn’t they use a handheld designator from the back for a time? That would be fun, having a buddy in multicrew trying to hold it on target with the mouse or controller… Thanh Hoa Bridge, here we come!
Pave Light / Zot Box
Stay On Target….
I’m so confused by the slats on the E we’re getting. Are they static? I’m used to seeing the leading edge flaps on the real EJs and whatever the Turkish variant is.
It is a US -E dressed up as an -EJ.
I don’t know which version they are going for, but the E was originally delivered with the C/D ”Hard Wing” but these were retrofitted with the slatted wing starting in the early 70’s.
Were the slats bolted onto the wing? They look like they’re on top of the wing rather than a part of the wing like the slats on the K-4, A-4, F-14, etc.
Since the slats were originally a 1972 retrofit, I’m assuming that they were fastened on. This was part of the Agile Eagle program that also introduced the TISEO, essentially a TV camera for target ID, mounted in the left wing’s leading edge. Those, along with other improvements, went into production in ‘73. I remember my dad really excited after test flying the AE Phantom when we were are Seymour Johnson AFB in late 71 or early 72, although he lamented the loss of airspeed. Not from dad, but I later read that the slats were two stage, the first permanently set and the second deploying at high angles of attack. Maybe they just never fully retracted. Need to research a bit more on what else was updated. Perhaps the radar.
Was the long ’Midas’ gun gas diffuser part of the mod, or was that separate?
This ancient vid has them - the full vid is about somewhere.
Ah, now I see how they work! Interesting how the inboards are stowed while the outboards are kinda out-ish all the time, and how they deploy up and forward instead of forward and down.
From HB Facebook
“ 
As we head into a… spooky season, we’d like to take a moment and thank you all for your unwavering support and passion as we knuckle down and keep grinding away on what in many ways is the most complex project we’ve ever undertaken.
The top priority is an enjoyable, polished Phantom experience on day one. Part of the complexity though is also ensuring that everything new we build can potentially be backported to the F-14 and Viggen; which will both become beneficiaries of everything we do in the future. Unifying the feature and detail levels across all of our modules will be key moving forward and we look forward to fulfilling all of our remaining promises on the Tomcat and Viggen.”
I’d be a happy man if I had a gf that teased me as much as HB does.
Ha! Cool sign.
For those who do not know its origins, the SwAF pilots has a ”Knights order” for their aircraft. Heatblur/Leatherneck had the Order of the Viggen symbol for their AJS 37 Viggen module.
The F-4E was actually the last foreign aircraft to be considered as a replacement for the Draken and Lansen, when Sweden finally decided to continue to DIY their Airforce fleet.
Buying the Phantom would’ve been a lot cheaper and was the preferred option with many decision makers in the Swedish govt.
So, a Swedish Phantom could’ve been a very real possibility…
A Phantom in Swedish forest camo would be something that’d make me act a fool.
I am glad that they did make that decision. Sure, there are cost savings in purchasing other options … but honestly with cost overruns in pretty much everything, and maintenance budgets growing as companies look to make a windfall on that guaranteed revenue, having a cheaper option is good. I really wish Canada would purchase the Gripen but we are so tied to (and dependant on) the US that I never see that happening. We had a great independent aviation program at one point, and tossed it out the door to partner with the US and now we can never get that back. Sweden is in the position that I wish Canada was in. At the very least (most) of the money being spent on the Gripen is going mostly back into Swedish economy in one form or another.
Don’t get me wrong, the US makes some great hardware but we are now down to Boeing and Lockheed and neither of those are competing (or care to compete) on price. We are ending up with a lot of expensive hardware that is complicated and very hard to replace.
/rant off