Typhoon EF-2000 Eurofighter
Eurofighter is a single-seat, twin-engine, agile combat aircraft which will be used in the air-to-air, air-to-ground and tactical reconnaissance roles. The design of Eurofighter Typhoon is optimised for air dominance performance with high instantaneous and sustained turn rates, and specific excess power. Special emphasis has been placed on low wing loading, high thrust to weight ratio, excellent all round vision and carefree handling.
The use of Stealth technology is incorporated throughout the aircraft’s basic design. The design of the Eurofighter Typhoon has not sacrificed flexibility of weapon carriage, maneuverability or performance to produce an inflexible stealth aircraft but it does contain a comprehensive suite of stealth features. Designing a fighter aircraft for stealth alone means making compromises to its aerodynamic and manoeuvre performance as well as restricting the number of weapons that aircraft can carry. The carriage of weapons on conventional under-wing pylons negates the stealth design. Although not of the classic angular, zigzag edged shape usually associated with stealth designs, Eurofighter Typhoon’s shape balances aerodynamic requirements, such as low drag and high lift, with the need to minimise reflected radar energy in all directions, producing a signature which is smaller than that of all other fighter aircraft currently in production.
In September 1998 the Eurofighter was also designated the Typhoon, though this nomenclature is intended only for use in export markets outside Europe. Eurofighter remains the offical name in Europe, and Typhoon will not automatically be the EF2000s name with the four partner air forces when it enters service.
Eurofighter's air dominance supremacy and versatility as a multi-role combat aircraft is marked by its highly potent and comprehensive air-to-surface attack capability:
Air Interdiction - capable of delivering a large payload over long distances, by day or night. Multiple, flexible sensors coupled with passive modes of delivery, and the retention of a full air-to-air fit ensure a formidable weapon system
Close Air Support - ability to remain on task for long periods. Its sophisticated sensor suite allows close co-ordination with ground commanders, and the identification of individual targets
Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) - the combination of pinpoint navigational accuracy, highly sophisticated onboard sensors and dedicated 'fire and forget' weapons, ensure effective targeting of enemy air defences
Maritime Attack - dedicated radar modes and datalink enable Eurofighter Typhoon to operate autonomously, or as part of an offensive force
Eurofighter’s high performance is matched by excellent all round vision and by sophisticated attack, identification and defence systems which include the ECR 90 long range radar and Infra Red Search and Track (IRST) system, advanced medium and short range air-to-air missiles and a comprehensive electronic warfare suite to enhance weapon system effectiveness and survivability. Eurofighter Typhoon is intentionally aerodynamically unstable to provide extremely high levels of agility, reduced drag and enhanced lift. The unstable design cannot be flown by conventional means and the pilot controls the aircraft via a computerised ‘fly by wire’ system.
The Eurojet EJ200 military turbofan was designed specifically to match Eurofighter Typhoon’s mission requirements. The overall design ensures a small lightweight engine with the thrust and strength to match the typically on demand reheat temperatures generated during combat. The EJ200 engine combines high thrust with low fuel consumption. To reduce ownership cost over Eurofighter Typhoon’s in-service life of 25 years or 6,000 flying hours, and to ensure maximum availability, the important areas of Reliability, Maintainability and Testability have been given equal priority to performance and flight safety.
Eurofighter production made use of several innovations in production engineering. These include the use of a modern integrated design, manufacturing and management systems and the introduction of automated processes for the production of a number of aircraft components.
Production contract for the first batch of 148 aircraft were placed by the Eurofighter management agency NETMA (NATO Eurofighter 2000 and Tornado Management Agency) on behalf of the partner nations. Fixed prices were agreed prior to the commitment of each contract. The contracts were signed by NETMA, Eurofighter GmbH and Eurojet GmbH.
Germany plans to assemble 180 Eurofighters of the 620 that consortium members are to buy. Britain is to take 232, Italy 121 and Spain 87. British Eurofighter aircraft will be assembled at British Aerospace sites in Lancashire from components manufactured by companies in the four partner nations. Rolls Royce will manufacture the engines, mainly in Bristol and Derby. In the other nations the respective partner companies will have their own assembly lines in Munich, Turin and Madrid. Some 200 UK companies, including GEC Marconi, Dowty, Lucas, Martin Baker, Normalair Garrett, Pilkington Thorn Optics, Smiths Industries, Computing Devices and Ultra Electronics, are involved in the development of a range of equipments for Eurofighter, including the radar and defensive aids subsystem. In the UK, over 6000 jobs depend on the Eurofighter development phase and this is expected to rise to some 14000 at the peak of production.
The UK intends to procure 232 aircraft to replace the Tornado F3 and the Jaguar. Deliveries to the Royal Air Force began in June 2002 and are scheduled to run until the year 2014. The current estimated total procurement cost of the program to the UK is £15.9Bn.
The consortium also is trying to sell Typhoons to Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. The Netherlands and Norway have signed up as partners on the F-35 JSF and Australia is expected to do so. Unlike the F-35, the Typhoon is not a "stealth" aircraft, but the Eurofighter's radar cross-section is significantly below the F-16.
One disadvantage in the Typhoon's $58 million price. It is more expensive than the $30 million F-16, while the F-35 is expected to cost on average about $50 million when it comes into production.
Program Chronology
Eurofighter originally planned to bring the Typhoon to the market in the mid-1990s, a decade before the next-generation US fighter would be ready. But budget cuts, technical problems and disagreements among the four Eurofighter partners led to a delay of seven or eight years.
Since Eurofighter first flew in Germany on 27 March 1994 all seven development aircraft have flown. Aircraft in the flight test program have completed over 790 sorties (658 hours). Full carefree handling and a speed of Mach 2.0 have been achieved as have air to air refuelling and weapons firings of Sidewinder and AMRAAM. Pilots have described the aircraft as 'exhilarating' to fly.
As of August 1995 delivery of the first aircraft to the Royal Air Force was scheduled for December 2000, some three years later than planned at the start of the development phase. The roots of much of the cost escalation and re-scheduling can be traced to the collaborative commercial and managerial arrangements for the program rather than to major technical difficulties. In particular, the requirement for worksharing at all levels between the partner nations has, in some cases, resulted in work being placed with specially created industrial consortia with variable levels of technical expertise. Compared to the original 1988 estimate the cost to the United Kingdom of the development phase had risen by some 23 per cent.
The commercial arrangements put in place in 1988 were seen as a step forward on previous practice for collaborative projects and were thought to deal pragmatically with the complexities of a development program stretching over 10 years. However, in practice they did not encourage efficient performance by industry and left nations exposed to a higher degree of commercial risk than expected. These shortcomings have been addressed as part of the "re-orientation" of the development program which the partner nations formally agreed at the end of July 1995. This permited the placing of revised main development contracts which will reduce nations exposure to cost increases and provide significantly greater incentive on industry to manage the project efficiently.
The managerial arrangements were modelled upon those for the tri-national Tornado program and were thought at the time to be appropriate for such a complex project. In practice they have proved somewhat cumbersome and bureaucratic. Steps are being taken to rectify this. The industrial management of the program improved, while the government management arrangements are being overhauled as part of the merger in 1996 of the international management agencies for Eurofighter 2000 and Tornado. Overall, these improvements, taken together with the revised commercial arrangements, placed the program on a much firmer footing.
Political and financial uncertainties, although difficult to quantify, also played a part in the rescheduling of the reorientated program.
In July 2002 the Austrian government selected the European-built Eurofighter Typhoon to replace its aging fleet of jet fighters. The contract could be worth up to $1.76 billion if Austria opted for the full order of 24 planes. The order was the first confirmed export for the Eurofighter, which had 620 orders from the countries that are building it. Cutting costs after the destructive August 2002 floods in Europe, Austria lowered its Typhoon order to 18 planes instead of 24. Greece has put off till after 2004 an announced plan to buy at least 60 Typhoons.
The aircraft would be four and a half years behind schedule as a result of political and technical delays, assuming the partners accepted delivery in mid-2003. The Spanish twin-seat prototype, dubbed DA6, crashed on 21 November 2002. First deliveries of the Eurofighter to the four partner nations were subsequently delayed by six months. In a statement released 05 December 2002, British Defence Minister Lewis Moonie said the decision to push back delivery of the fighter is the result of minor design problems and the slow pace of gathering performance and flight-safety data by industry ahead of the aircraft’s acceptance into service.
First Flights of the Series Production Aircraft took place in mid-February 2003. The fourth Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA 4) successfully carried out its first flight on the 26. February 2004. IPA 4 is the first single seat production aircraft to roll off the final assembly line. IPA 4 offers the highest standard of the hardware / software integration, which represents a technical and functional evolution of the weapon system. The aircraft also incorporates an enhance standard EJ200 engine that was tested in the air for the first time during the IPA 4 maiden flight.
Deliveries of aircraft to the Air Forces began in the Summer of 2003. Delivery of first Series Production Aircraft to the German Air Force took place in August 2004. This Aircraft, GT003, will be used for Service Pilot Instructor Training based at Manching, Southern Germany . Later in the year, this aircraft will be delivered to Laage in Northern Germany where the process of integration to the operational fleet will commence.
The December 2004 signature of the Tranche 2 Supplement 3 Contract, worth Euro 13billion, will allow for the production of the Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoons, which will feature the full air-to-air and air-to-ground swing-role capability that the four Partner Nations require.
In May 2004 the first German Air Force Eurofighter Service Aircraft were welcomed by Fighter Wing (Jagdgeschwader) 73 “Steinhoff” (JG 73 ‘S’) to their operational base at Rostock-Laage in Northern Germany. The event was attended by Chief of the German Air Force LtGen Klaus-Peter Stieglitz and Dr. Peter Eickenboom, Under Secretary of State within the German Ministry of Defence.
Delivery of Single Seaters started in December 2004, with Spanish & Italian Air Forces to receive the first aircrafts. Germany and UK followed shortly. These aircraft are equipped with DASS (Defensive Aids Subsystem), MIDS (Multiple Information Distribution System), Chaff and Flare.
With deployment of IS002 from Alenia’s facilities in Torino to 4° Stormo “Amadeo d’Aosta” at Grosseto, Italy, by mid-April 2005 all four partner air forces in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom operate series production single seaters with Batch 2 standard. These aircraft have PSP2 Capability (Production System Package) with Initial Defensive Aids Subsystem (DASS), Multifunctional Information and Distribution System (MIDS), Initial Direct Voice Input (DVI) and Sensor Fusion. Six Batch 2 aircraft have been accepted by the customer air forces so far, totalling the number of delivered series production aircraft at 41 (including 5 Instrumented Production Aircraft IPA).
On 21 December 2005 the Governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed an Understanding Document, which was intended to establish a greater partnership in modernising the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and developing close service-to-service contacts especially through joint training and exercises. In addition, the United Kingdom Government recognises the need to support the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its efforts to further develop a regional defence industrial centre of excellence. In this regard, BAE SYSTEMS will invest in local Saudi companies, develop an industrial technology transfer plan, and provide suitable training for thousands of Saudi nationals providing through life support for key in service equipments. The two Governments recognise the requirement to provide enhanced capabilities to existing military assets and ensure that they can be supported by local Saudi industry. Under the terms of the signed document Typhoon aircraft will replace Tornado Air Defence Variant aircraft and others currently in service with the RSAF. The details of these arrangements are confidential between the two Governments. The agreement is reported to be for 48 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, with an option for a further 24, for a total of 72. The deal, the third phase of the Al-Yamamah oil-for-planes arrangement, is rumored to be worth more than $10.6 billion).
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