Time flies -- and so does the Eurofighter Typhoon... The Eurofighter Typhoon fleet in the four partner air forces of Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom has surpassed the 10,000 flying hours in July 2006. Together with 4.550 flying hours of the test aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhoon fleet is approaching the 15,000 flying hours mark rapidly.

Aloysius Rauen, CEO Eurofighter GmbH notes that, “The four national Eurofighter consortium has delivered over 90 aircraft to date. Seven units are flying the aircraft and Eurofighter Typhoon is set to take on more operational tasks in the near future. Italy protects its air space with armed Eurofighters since end 2005. Only recently the German Air Force started operations with their second Eurofighter wing, the Royal Air Force operates Eurofighter Typhoon in major aerial exercises and the Spanish Air Force is set to inaugurate their first operational Eurofighter Typhoon unit soon.

In the meantime discussions with our customer on further enhancing the multi-role capabilities of Eurofighter Typhoon – as originally planned with the Tranche 2 contract by introducing new air-to-air and stand-off weapons – are progressing. This enhancement is urgently required by all partner air forces. The recent contract signature for the integration of a Laser Designator Pod to the Royal Air Force’s Tranche 1 aircraft is a significant step on this route.”

Throughout this summer the flight test programme focuses on finalisation of the main development work for initial air-to-ground tasks including further tests with Laser Guided Bombs (Paveway II, GBU-10, GBU-16).

FMI: www.eurofighter.com