Eurofighter Typhoon: Series Production Progressing Well
Atens, le 06 octobre 2000
Athens - The Eurofighter, the world's most advanced fourth-generation combat aircraft, is a joint product of Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, who have ordered a total of 620 aircraft. After the production-go-ahead given by the four governments in 1998, the manufacture and assembly of center fuselages, starboard wings, and aft fuselage components for the first series aircraft are now well under way at the Military Aircraft Business Unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS, Munich) at the EADS plants in Germany and Spain. The same applies for the production progress at the partner companies Alenia Aerospazio (Italy) and BAE Systems (United Kingdom), according to the agreed work-share (front and parts of aft fuselages, port wings). The first EADS-equipped production center fuselage was delivered on time, August 31, 2000 to the UK for final assembly which begun September 7, 2000. In December 2000, EADS will start the final assembly for the first out of 180 aircraft for the German Air Force at the plant Manching (Bavaria), with the assembly of the 87 Spanish production aircraft to follow in March 2001. The four air forces will receive their Eurofighter aircraft from 2002 onwards.
Export Status
In addition to the launching customers, the Eurofighter, branded outside Europe as ‚Typhoon', shows an extremely encouraging export potential: Greece, where the Eurofighter was short-listed against competing aircraft, is now in the final contract negotiating process of procuring 60 aircraft (plus 30 further options). In addition to Greece, EADS is part of the marketing activities of the four-national sales organisation Eurofighter International in the Netherlands, South Korea and Norway. The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) has postponed their ‚New Combat Aircraft' program after having short-listed the Eurofighter and a competing U.S. model. Instead, they will have to bridge the gap with a modernized fleet of third-generation fighter aircraft. EADS has also the marketing lead for Eurofighter in the Czech Republic and will offer the Eurofighter there, as requested by the Ministries of Defense of the Czech Republic and Germany. The Czech Air Force has a requirement of up to 36 supersonic fighter aircraft. Whilst a pre-offset agreement has already been signed between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the EADS predecessor Dasa in Prague late April 2000, the Request for Proposal (RfP) is expected later this year. The Eurofighter has the highest order number of all forth-generation aircraft to date and is also discussed with further potential customers.
Flight tests prove program maturity
In total, 38 test pilots (21 from industry, and 17 from military services) have now flown with the seven Eurofighter development aircraft in roughly 1.400 test flights with more than 1.100 flying hours. Recent test program achievements included flights with the flight-control software standard 2B/2 close to production standard, engine certification flying, bomb pit drop tests, high temperature environmental trials including evaluation of the new liquid conditioning system for aircrews, and icing trials both on the ground and in the air. Other test highlights were electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) trials, flights in autopilot / autothrottle modes, with 1.000 and 1.500 litre external fuel tanks and at 50.000 feet altitude. The Manching-based single-seat avionics aircraft DA 5 successfully carried out simultaneous radar engagements of four targets. Getafe based DA6 and one of the two twin-seater aircraft recently carried out environmental tests in Boscombe Down, UK, whilst DA1, operating out of Manching, has concluded engine certification flights and starred at this year's major air shows (ILA Berlin, Farnborough International 2000) with EADS test pilot Chris Worning and BAE Systems pilot Keith Hartley. Within the first ten days of September 2000, DA 1 performed flying displays at Volkel Air Force Base in the Netherlands, at Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic, and at the Italian Air Force Base Rivolto. These and previous test phases have proven the maturity of the most modern air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon system. These included missile firings and drop launches, and inflight-refuelling including long-range/endurance test flying for more than four hours. Ground tests like the major airframe fatigue test (MAFT) with 18.000 simulated flying hours or three times the contractualy agreed minimum of 6.000 flying hours for the production aircraft have clearly shown the reliability of the Eurofighter design.
Athens, October 2000
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