Eurofighter Typhoon set to soar at Le Bourget 2005
Paris/Hallbergmoos (ots)
The Eurofighter Typhoon presence at the Paris Le Bourget Air Show 2005 is bigger and better than ever before, with this world-class next generation combat aircraft prominent both in the air and on the ground.
A Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft will feature at the Show with consortium partner Alenia, in combination with the skilled airmanship of Italian Air Force pilots, providing the Show-stopping air display. An Italian Air Force series production aircraft will also be situated on the static display area for viewing throughout the Show.
The Eurofighter pavilion houses a presentation area that demonstrates the aircraft's capability and pivotal role in a network-centric battle environment. This theme will be further emphasised with a new and exciting audio/visual presentation scheduled to run concurrently throughout the week for welcome visitors. A full scale replica with a comprehensive weapon display, and a cockpit simulator, will demonstrate the weapon system's outstanding capabilities.
Eurofighter partner EADS will present a full scale replica of the aircraft supported by an interactive display.
Following the successful completion of Tranche 2 negotiations at the end of last year the four-nation Eurofighter programme is now entering the most exciting and dynamic period of its life so far.
All 148 Tranche 1 aircraft are in final or advanced stages of production, which will ensure a sustained delivery rate to the customer throughout 2005. In April, the deployment of IS002 from Alenia's final assembly facilities in Torino to 4° Stormo "Amadeo d'Aosta" at Grosseto, Italy, meant that all four partner air forces now 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.
Over the past month, the flight testing of an upgraded standard of the Avionics product has been completed, providing operational evaluations of the updates to the Avionics - in particular RADAR, DASS and Sensor Fusion - for Batch 2 aircraft. A total number of eight Eurofighter Typhoon flights (10 hours) supported the QU2 PSQS (Preliminary System Qualification Statement) (plus nine Tornado flights), and thirteen Typhoon flights (sixteen hours) supported the Customer OTC (Official Test Centre) Mission Assessment (plus nine Tornado and four Hawk flights).
The Weapon System was evaluated thoroughly with seven 2v2 (i.e. two Eurofighter Typhoons against two 'enemies') Sensor Fusion flights, one 2v4 (against four enemies) Sensor Fusion flight and five dedicated DASS flights designed to fully test the avionics. The overall performance was encouraging considering the fairly aggressive operational testing conducted during the Mission Assessment, with the feedback from the operational pilots confirming their favourable impressions of the product.
In early 2005, Eurofighter Typhoon made its first transatlantic deployment. Under the 'Exercise High Rider' nickname, the Air Warfare Centre (AWC) conducts routine trials work on the United States western ranges, taking advantage of significant overland airspace, good weather and instrumented range infrastructure to maximise operational test and evaluation output from these facilities.
Exercise High Rider 10 took place at the United States Naval Air Weapons Range China Lake in California. Taking part in the deployment were the Harrier GR7 and Tornado GR4 aircraft of the AWC's Fast Jet and Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit (FJWOEU) based at RAF Coningsby and a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from the Typhoon combined test team.
The aircraft was deployed from BAE Systems Warton, crewed by a BAE Systems test pilot and a Typhoon Operational Evaluation Unit 17(R) Squadron pilot. BT005, a twin-seat series production aircraft, made the transatlantic crossing with the help of RAF VC10 and Tristar refuelling assets, before conducting an unaccompanied transit across the USA from Bangor Maine to China Lake, stopping to refuel at Little Rock Arkansas and Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. The Eurofighter Typhoon began flying again immediately after its arrival undertaking trials work to evaluate the aircraft's weapon system in an operational environment.
Exercise High Rider 10 recovered to the UK at the end of the deployment.
Images
High Resolution images of the Eurofighter Typhoon can be downloaded from our web site. Hard Copy images are available on request.
www.eurofighter.com/medialibrary
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Eurofighter Typhoon is the world's most advanced swing-role combat aircraft, developed by the leading aerospace companies, Alenia Aeronautica, BAE SYSTEMS, EADS in Germany and EADS CASA, of the four partner countries, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain.
Agile and highly manoeuvrable, the twin-engine Eurofighter Typhoon is designed to operate from hastily prepared bases and small runways for worldwide operations. It is equipped with an advanced multi-mode radar and an extensive range of sensors and electronic countermeasures.
The aircraft's ability to gain air superiority beyond visual range (BVR) and in close combat, and at the same time deliver high sortie rates against air, naval and ground targets in all weathers with a variety of weapons, demands close attention to pilot workload. In Eurofighter the pilot flies through use of a computerised flight control system, which offers full carefree handling.
A strong emphasis has been placed on reducing cost of ownership in addition to outstanding performance and flight safety. Eurofighter Typhoon is less expensive to operate than the generation of aircraft it is designed to replace. In respect to the cost to performance relationship Eurofighter is second to none of its competitors.
The Eurofighter partner nations plan to take delivery of 620 aircraft: 180 for Germany, 121 for Italy, 87 for Spain and 232 for the United Kingdom. An additional export order of 18 Eurofighter Typhoon has been signed with the Government of Austria.
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence has agreed an industrial participation programme with Eurofighter GmbH for the future enhancement of the weapon system. Eurofighter Typhoon has also been selected by Greece to meet its respective requirements for a future fighter.
Following Type Acceptance on 30 June, 2003, delivery of Series Production Aircraft commenced to each of the four national air forces with entry into service declared in Spring of 2004.
With the signature of the Tranche 2 Production Contract on 14 December 2004, Eurofighter received the production go-ahead for more than 400 aircraft. Eurofighter Typhoon has the largest confirmed production contract order book of any next generation fighter aircraft.
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Contact:
Wolfdietrich Hoeveler
Vice President Communication
Eurofighter GmbH
+49 811 801 555 (Office)
+49 170 855 0474 (Mobile)
wolfdietrich.hoeveler@eurofighter.com
Mark Ritson
Head of Public Relations
Eurofighter GmbH
+49 811 801 931(Office)
+49 172 893 2147 (Mobile)
+44 780 171 2070 (Mobile)
mark.ritson@eurofighter.com