The Commander of the Test and Evaluation Group of the Republic of Korea Air Force flies Eurofighter TyphoonMadrid, 05 December 2000 At EADS CASA's Getafe facilities, Brig. Gen. Shin Bo Hyun, Commander of the F-X Test and Evaluation Group of the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF), took off in DA6, the twinseater development aircraft of the Eurofighter Typhoon built by EADS in collaboration with BAe Systems and Alenia.
This was a demo flight for the commander of F-X Evaluation Group, ROKAF, and took place just after major lay-up of the development aircraft in which avionics and radar were updated and received a new software release. During the briefing prior to the flight, Brig. Gen. Shin Bo Hyun was very interested in the general cabin lay-up as well as the different presentations of the displays. Brig. Gen. Shin expressed his enthusiasm to the EADS CASA pilot regarding the handling characteristics, agility, roll rate and overall performance.
This was an historic occasion since Gen. Shin Bo Hyun was the first non-European pilot to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Eurofighter Typhoon, the next generation swing-role aircraft has been shortlisted by the Korean MND for their F-X programme. ROKAF plans to acquire a first batch of 40 aircraft to cover their needs during the first quarter of the 21st century.
The flight of Brig. Gen. Shin preceded by only a few days a complete Test and Evaluation effort to be conducted by his team of 12 pilots and engineers in BAe Systems (Warton, UK), Alenia (Turin, Italy) and EADS CASA (Getafe, Spain). The ROKAF Test and Evaluation flight programme will start next Wednesday December 6 in the EADS CASA facility in Getafe near Madrid, using the same DA6 twinseater development aircraft of the Eurofighter Typhoon. EADS has a 43% stake in the Eurofighter consortium, along with BAe Systems and Alenia. EADS was formed on July 10, 2000 following the merger of Aerospatiale Matra of France, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) of Germany and the Spanish CASA. EADS is the third largest aerospace company in the world. It has approximately 87,000 employees. For further information, please contact:
Miguel Sánchez |
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