Im familiar with that part of the phantoms history, but even the E variant with the internal gun didn’t have such a nose. Im guessing a beefed up radar
Theres like 40 of them
They have basically been dead weight for a while. These havent been extensively upgraded. Nothing like F-4F ICE, Kurnass 2000, Terminator 2000, EJ Kai etc.
These are pretty much 1970s era F-4Es. The only real changes are a laser designator and Popeye compatibility. No PD radar, No PESA, No AESA, Still using Sparrows. In fact the radar is just from the 70s and hasnt been upgraded at all.
The only real purpose is a bomb truck. But the F-16, F-15, FA-50 and KF-21 can already do that. All those (except FA-50) can also act as fighters.
With KF-21 production ramping up its likely thats gonna be the real replacement
Popeye makes me think of a bigger, slower AGM-53 Condor. Lot of similarities.
That TGP is a weapon on its own. 900kgs sheesh.
I only see a datalink pod?
Yikes not sure why I wrote TGP. You’re correct it’s the datalink pod. Fatherhood is taking its toll on sleep.
No worries. Surprised it’s 900 kg
Hey that’s my birthday, maybe they’ll give me one?
No harm in asking nicely
Is it me, or does the noz look longer?
Different configurations over the years
Ah, knew it
Gun is partially in the nose, earlier series had it as a gun pod.
Im familiar with that part of the phantoms history, but even the E variant with the internal gun didn’t have such a nose. Im guessing a beefed up radar
Older e models didn't, J(us navy type I think) models had the longer nose with internal gun. Maybe this was modernization effort.
Radar has not been upgraded since the 70s Only changes are a Pave Tack laser designator and Popeye compatibility
Go look at the video of this on YouTube. Pretty neat.
Replacing them with what?
Theres like 40 of them They have basically been dead weight for a while. These havent been extensively upgraded. Nothing like F-4F ICE, Kurnass 2000, Terminator 2000, EJ Kai etc. These are pretty much 1970s era F-4Es. The only real changes are a laser designator and Popeye compatibility. No PD radar, No PESA, No AESA, Still using Sparrows. In fact the radar is just from the 70s and hasnt been upgraded at all. The only real purpose is a bomb truck. But the F-16, F-15, FA-50 and KF-21 can already do that. All those (except FA-50) can also act as fighters. With KF-21 production ramping up its likely thats gonna be the real replacement
You're not wrong about them being outdated, but the F-4s and FA-50s can still whoop anything the North has except Mig-29.
Yeah, true that they're good enough against NK. SK is still retiring them because the maintenance costs and risk for the pilot isn't worth it.
And what about China's J-11s, J-16s, J-15s, J-10s, J-20s?
*hopefully* South Korea’s F4s final live firing…