Eurofighter Typhoon to be Showcased at Aero India 2007
Dated 26/1/2007
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After a successful 2006, the Eurofighter partnership starts the new year with a strong presence at this year's Aero India in Bangalore. The Eurofighter consortium and the EUROJET engine consortium present the programme to the Indian military and aerospace leadership as well as the public for the first time.
The capabilities of Eurofighter Typhoon can be assessed by professional visitors at the Eurofighter stand in Hall C, Stand C4,6 by flying the unique Cockpit Demonstrator with air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities fully integrated. Air Force and Industry pilots will present first hand information.
Additional features on display at the Eurofighter stand include the EJ200 engine and the electronic scanning antenna developed by the Euroradar consortium, which is soon to be flown on a Eurofighter Typhoon Development Aircraft in Germany.
A press briefing with senior customer and industry officials is scheduled for 7 February at 1400 in Hall 1 of the press centre on show site. Media are invited to attend.
According to Eurofighter GmbH CEO, Aloysius Rauen, Eurofighter Typhoon is set to continue delivering value for decades to come.
"Already the air forces of Germany, Italy Spain and the UK have a formidable air-to-air fighter in Eurofighter Typhoon and as we now have moved towards full swing-role capability we will see Eurofighter Typhoon distance itself from the competition on a number of levels.
“With firm orders for 638 units from the four nations and Austria we are proud of the fact that we are offering potential partners the chance to join us in producing the world's biggest selling new generation swing role aircraft.
"So far more than 110 aircraft have been delivered to the air forces of the four partner nations Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The four air forces and industry have amassed more than 14,000 flight hours in seven units that operate the Eurofighter Typhoon.
“We have achieved certification for unlimited air-to-air carefree handling with the available air-to-air missiles AMRAAM including the latest C5 version in service with the Royal Air Force, ASRAAM, IRIS-T, and the proven AIM-9L plus external fuel tanks. We continue by delivering the air-to surface capability demanded by the customer.
Air-to-surface carefree handling trials are underway and are progressing successfully."
Three air-to-ground configuration have flown with up to six Laser Guided Bombs plus six Air-to-Air Missiles and external fuel tanks.
Paveway II and GBU-16 have been successfully dropped. Flight tests with a Laser Designator Pod have begun at EADS Military Air Systems in Germany with the four Paveway II, four AMRAAM, two AIM-9L, two external, 1,000 ltr fuel tanks and the LDP on the centre fuselage station. The Royal Air Force wants to introduce this capability already with Tranche 1 aircraft in the next year.
Aloysius Rauen confirms: "We are well on our way to achieving Full Operational Capability (FOC) for the system at Block 5 in line with our customer requirement. The first Block 5 aircraft, SS011, has flown in Spain three days before Christmas. Delivery of Block 5 aircraft will begin with the next weeks."
Hartmut J. Tenter, Managing Director of EUROJET states for the EJ200 engine powering Eurofighter Typhoon: "The EJ200 production programme is contracted to produce 1400+ engines for Eurofighter Typhoon. It is the largest military engine production programme under contract in the world today.
Eurofighter In-Service experience in the four core Nations (Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) has demonstrated excellent engine results. All pilots who have flown the Eurofighter are impressed by the superior levels of performance of the EJ200 engine. Compared to other engines in the same class, the EJ200 delivers an outstanding thrust-to-weight ratio and specific fuel consumption.
With unprecedented performance, multi-mission capability and reliability, the EJ200 is the best choice for next generation combat and trainer applications. EUROJET offers a wide range of integrated logistic engine support concepts".
Aloysius Rauen concludes: "It is a challenging and demanding programme for our people but they prove consistently that they are equal to the task. I think that this is because they recognize that by delivering Eurofighter Typhoon today, they are delivering operational capability, national security, technology and industrial partnerships for tomorrow and for decades to come.
Based on those facts, the Eurofighter Typhoon is the optimum solution for the air defence needs of India and the best candidate in the up-coming procurement programme for next generation multi-role fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force."
Background Information
Eurofighter Typhoon is the result of a consolidation process in Europe, when the four participating partner nations Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom agreed on replacing various aircraft types with the multi-role/swing-role Eurofighter Typhoon.
The programme mirrors the industrial collaboration process in Europe that resulted on global players of size like BAE Systems, Alenia Finmeccanica and EADS. These European aerospace leaders accumulate a massive turnover and huge expenditures for Research & Development. They also are the shareholders in the Eurofighter programme.
This programme is Europe's largest collaborative programme and delivers leading-edge technology, thus strengthening Europe's aerospace industry in the global competition. Eurofighter Typhoon will effectively lead to the replacement of up to 11 aircraft types with 620 aircraft (plus an option of further 90 aircraft) ordered for the four nations plus 18 for Austria, delivering commonality and high degree interoperability.
Eurofighter Typhoon was designed as the world's most advanced new generation swing-role combat aircraft and with more than 100 aircraft delivered is in operation in seven units across Europe delivering security every day.
The signature of the Tranche 2 Production Contract on 14 December 2004, confirmed Eurofighter's position of having the largest order book of any next generation fighter aircraft. In this aspect, Eurofighter Typhoon is a real best-seller.
With more than 400 suppliers across Europe and more than 100,000 jobs at peak production, the Eurofighter programme does not set only new standards in operational and economical terms, it is as well vital for Europe's technical and industrial evolution over the next 40+ years.
Giving an equal priority to affordability questions, a strong emphasis has been placed on reducing cost of ownership in addition to outstanding performance and flight safety. Eurofighter Typhoon is less expensive to operate than the generation of aircraft it is designed to replace. In respect to the cost to performance relation Eurofighter Typhoon is second to none of its competitors and delivers the most cost-efficient solution.
As a consequence, Eurofighter Typhoon has received significant export interest as an alternative to US solutions, whilst maintaining continuity of interoperability and performance.
Based on those features, the Eurofighter Typhoon is the optimum solution for the air defence needs of India and the best candidate in the up-coming procurement programme for next generation multi-role fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force.