Eurofighter aircraft deliveries into service soar through half century
Hallbergmoos (ots)
The number of aircraft delivered into service with the four Eurofighter partner air forces of Germany, UK, Italy and Spain soared through fifty this week.
The German Luftwaffe and the Spanish Air Force simultaneously accepted aircraft into service on Wednesday, 29th June 2005 taking the total number of Eurofighter deliveries so far to 51 since the very first production off-take in June 2003.
Whilst all 30 Eurofighter Batch 1 aircraft and five Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) are already in service, 16 Batch 2 are now delivered to the air forces of Germany, UK, Spain and Italy bringing the total number of series production aircraft delivered so far to 51.
By industry/customer deliveries to date:
Royal Air Force
EADS Germany 13 (plus 1 IPA) - German Luftwaffe
EADS CASA 9 (plus 1 IPA) - Spanish Air Force
Alenia 9 (plus 1 IPA) - Italian Air ForceThe Batch 2 aircraft have Production System Package (PSP2) Capability with initial Defensive Aids Subsystem (DASS), Multifunctional Information and Distribution System (MIDS), initial Direct Voice Input (DVI) and initial Sensor Fusion.
Aloysius Rauen, the CEO of Eurofighter GmbH, commented: "We are delighted with this latest milestone. Eurofighter Typhoon is the biggest and most successful military aerospace programme in Europe. With 638 aircraft under contract to five nations Eurofighter GmbH holds the largest order book of any next generation fighter aircraft worldwide, making Eurofighter Typhoon the undisputed Number One in the new generation global fighter business.
"Eurofighter Typhoon has unquestioned capabilities acknowledged by the customers and international aerospace experts. Its operational potential reaches far into the first half of this century, offering huge technological and industrial advantages to new potential customers based on a large order book, reducing customer risk. The Eurofighter Typhoon programme is characterized as a fully open partnership with unrivalled technological and industrial return to customers who wish to join the project. All of our stakeholders can be proud that Eurofighter aircraft deliveries have exceeded 50," he said.
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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.
Contact:
Wolfdietrich Hoeveler
Vice President Communication
Eurofighter GmbH
+49/811/801'555 (Office)
+49/170/855'04'74 (Mobile)
wolfdietrich.hoeveler@eurofighter.com
Mark Ritson
Head of Public Relations
Eurofighter GmbH
+49/811/801'555 (Office)
+49/172/893'21'47 (Mobile)
mark.ritson@eurofighter.com