EADS welcomes production contract for batch of 236
aircraft
NETMA (NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency) and
Eurofighter Jagdflugzeuge GmbH have signed the contract covering
the second tranche of Eurofighter aircraft, announced the British
Minister of Defence Geoffrey Hoon on Friday in London.
"For us, Eurofighter Tranche 2 is one of the most important
orders in the area of defence this year," commented Philippe Camus
and Rainer Hertrich, the two CEOs of EADS, on the conclusion of the
contract. "For EADS as one of the Eurofighter partner companies,
this represents a contract volume of 4.3 billion Euros. At the same
time, this contract improves the export chances of Eurofighter, a
latest-generation high-tech combat aircraft that has already
reached market maturity and underlines Europe's capabilities in
this area. The conclusion of the contract is a significant success
for EADS and its Eurofighter consortium partners and also an
outstanding step towards achieving the strategic aim we have set
ourselves of further expanding our defence business over the coming
years."
Johann Heitzmann, CEO of the EADS Military Aircraft Business
Unit, sees the achievements of the Eurofighter partners confirmed
by the conclusion of this contract. "Several months of uncertainty
regarding the continuation of the programme have been ended by the
signing of the contract," said Heitzmann. "We now have planning
certainty for the production and development work that is to come.
In particular also the small- and medium-sized companies that are
suppliers to this programme will benefit from this."
The Tranche 2 standard makes Eurofighter Typhoon the first
European combat aircraft to satisfy the requirements of NATO and EU
forces with regard to Network Enhanced Capabilities for all the air
forces' wide-ranging mission spectrums in their air-to-air and
air-to-ground roles. The growth of the Tranche 2 aircraft's
operational capabilities is being achieved mainly thanks to new
software and the integration of state-of-the-art armaments as
specified by the national customers. The optimization process
applying for Eurofighter shows that as a result of its "sensor to
effector" systems house concept, EADS is well positioned to face
technological challenges in this area.
Eurofighter Tranche 2 is the second of three elements in the
umbrella contract that comprises a total of 620 aircraft for the
four partner nations: Great Britain, Germany, Spain and
Italy. From tranche to tranche, an increasing degree of operational
capability has been agreed for the aircraft. Of the 236 aircraft in
this second production batch, the German Air Force will receive 68
and the Spanish Air Force 33, which will undergo final assembly in
the EADS manufacturing plants in Germany and Spain. Delivery is
scheduled from Spring 2008 onwards. In addition, Italy will receive
46 aircraft and Great Britain 89. A further 18 aircraft to Tranche
2 standard will be delivered to Austria, the first Eurofighter
export customer.
In the Military Aircraft Business Unit, which is an integrated
part of the EADS Defence and Security Systems Division (DS), all
EADS capabilities in the areas of high-performance combat aircraft,
unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs), manned mission aircraft and
training aircraft and the ground support equipment for these
systems are concentrated.