updateEurofighter2 - 2 0 0 8 e u r o f i g h t e r u p d a t e- E u r o f i g h t e r L a t e s t N e w s -

Main development near completion. QuickReaction Alert (QRA) ability proven. Multi-role capability declared. Eurofighter Typhoonhas announced its presence on the globalmilitary stage, defining new standards ofperformance for combat aircraft and deliver-ing a capability of the highest magnitude.Don’t just take our word for it – the factsspeak for themselves!

With more than 140 weapon systems de-livered to the partner Air Forces and Austria,Eurofighter Typhoon is establishing itself asthe backbone of European air defence. Sinceofficial entry into service in Spring 2004, therates of aircraft delivery and pilot conversiontraining ramped up while, simultaneously,the Air Forces' Operational Evaluation Units(OEUs) shaped new mission tactics aroundthe awesome capabilities of their newweapon system. Over 42,000 flying hourshave been amassed by the customer nations.

As of today, Eurofighter Typhoon is responsible for QRA in Germany, Italy, Spainand the United Kingdom and Air Surveillancein Austria. On 01 July, the Royal Air Force declared the jet as mission ready followingthe successful integration of the laser desig-nator pod (LDP) and Enhanced Paveway IIguided bombs, as required under the “Aus-tere Capabilities” contract for an enhanced air-to-ground capability for RAF Tranche 1aircraft.

The analysts have forecasted it and theAir Forces are delivering on the promise. Its market leader status is globally recog-nised and, now, with its multi-role capabilitycoming to the fore, Eurofighter Typhoon isprimed and combat ready.

Nothing comes close.

The facts speak for themselves

Combat Ready

Top: Fighter Wing 74 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft

took over QRA duty for Southern Germany on 12 June

Above: First in-service bomb dropping trials were

carried out by the RAF

Testing multi-role capability

during Exercise Green Flag West

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The Italian Air Force were, in December2005, the first of the Eurofighter Typhoonnations to place the jet on Servizio Sorveg-lianza Spazio Aereo (SSSA) or Airspace Surveillance. Two aircraft from 4° Stormoat Grosseto were placed on guard to providethe first line of Italian air defence. Theirfirst high profile assignment was to patrolthe skies over Turin during the 2006 Win-ter Olympics.

Fast forward to July 2007 and the RoyalAir Force announce that Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft will be on 24-hour readi-ness to respond to threats in or approachingUnited Kingdom airspace. The QRA teams,led by No.3 (F) Squadron at RAF Coningsby,were put to the test just a few weeks later as a Russian Tu-95 Bear-H bomber aircraftmade its way over the North Atlantic to-wards the UK. Eurofighter Typhoons werescrambled and intercepted the oncomingbomber, shadowing it until it changedcourse and headed back to Russia. The photograph of a fully armed Eurofighter Typhoon escorting its target became theiconic image of Russia’s change in defencepolicy and cemented Eurofighter Typhoon’sreputation as a formidable air defence plat-form.

QRA Proven

In January of this year, the German AirForce began a six month overlap processwith Eurofighter Typhoons from FighterWing 74 performing QRA tasks alongsidethe outgoing F-4F “Phantom II” aircraft, outof their Neuburg/Donau base. At the start of June, the German Air Force formally noti-fied NATO that QRA duties were to be assigned to the new type and, on 12 June, a“flying out” ceremony for the F-4F officiallymarked Eurofighter Typhoon’s ascent intothe QRA role.

Although essentially an air defencemechanism, QRA scrambles may cover awide range of activities. This was demon-strated on 22 June when a MiG-29 of theHungarian Air Force, en route from TheNetherlands, got into radio difficulty overGermany. Two Eurofighter Typhoons weredispatched to intercept and, once alongsidethe stricken jet and by using internationallyrecognised hand signals, were able to motionto the Hungarian pilot to follow them toNeuburg where they could land and be repaired.

On 30 June, the F-5E “Tiger” aircraft departed their Graz Thalerhof base for thelast time. Officially, as of 01 July, Eurofighter

Typhoon have taken their place in protect-ing Austrian airspace under the leadershipof the Joint Armed Forces Command, Graz,and the Air Surveillance Command, Wals, of the Austrian Military. This operationaldeclaration, coming just eleven months af-ter the first Eurofighter Typhoon for theAustrian Air Force landed at Zeltweg, is astonishing and underlines the flexibility of the weapon system

Prior to the July announcement, the Eurofighter Typhoon crews had already carried out their first assignments. Airspacesecurity during the Euro2008 footballchampionships was assured with fullyarmed jets patrolling the skies above theAustrian host stadiums. Then, on Friday 20June, their first “Priority Alpha” was calledand two Eurofighter Typhoons were divertedto intercept a French Hercules C-130 thathad inadvertently flown into “closed” air-space. Faced with two fighters, the pilot realised his error and apologised, before being escorted to a point north of Salzburg,where he departed Austrian airspace andthe Eurofighter Typhoons returned to base.

Quick Reaction Alert responsibilities demand an aircraft with performance andfirepower to deter all airborne threats. Onall counts, Eurofighter Typhoon delivers.

Multi-role capableAlthough the Eurofighter consortium hadcommenced heavy loads trials a few monthsearlier, it wasn’t until the 2006 FarnboroughInternational airshow that the drive towardsa multi-role capability for Eurofighter Typhoon began to gather pace. With the“Austere Capabilities” contract secured, the Test & Evaluation teams ramped uptheir activities with air-to-surface weapons.

Two significant events in early 2007highlighted the increased urgency towardsdelivering a multi-role platform. First, inFebruary, Spanish colleagues at EADSCASA conducted the first GBU-10 jettisontrials with Eurofighter Typhoon Instrument-ed Production Aircraft Four (IPA4). Shortlyafterwards, on 30 March at RAF Coningsby,the Royal Air Force held a “Stand Up” Cere-mony for XI Squadron, the first EurofighterTyphoon frontline unit with multi-role re-sponsibilities, who were assigned the taskof achieving a squadron-level ready-to-de-ploy status by 01 July 2008.

The Combined Test Team (CTT) of BAESystems and the Royal Air Force delivered,in November 2007, the most convincing results to date that progress was on sched-ule with the announcement of the firstlaser-guided release of an Enhanced Pave-way II bomb from a Eurofighter Typhoon.The successful mission on Instrumented Series Production Aircraft One (ISPA1 orBT005 of the Royal Air Force) proved theavionics software for air-to-ground opera-tions with the Litening III laser designatorpod and, ten days later, the first guided firing from a Royal Air Force EurofighterTyphoon was conducted, albeit with targetillumination provided by the LDP-carryingBT005.

Alongside the in-flight trials, the RoyalAir Force frontline squadrons had carriedout austere deployments away from thesanctuary of RAF Coningsby in order tolean down the logistics footprint associatedwith foreign assignments. With their partic-ipation in Exercise Green Flag West at Nel-lis AFB, USA, confirmed, could they com-bine the two elements and prove EurofighterTyphoon’s multi-role mettle in realistic operational conditions? The answer was aresounding yes.

67 air-to-surface weapons were

released during the US deployment

Left: On base at Grosseto, home of

the Italian Air Force´s Eurofighter

Typhooon QRA squadron

Far left: Eurofighter Typhoons of the

Austrian Air Force secured the

airspace during Euro 2008

Around 150 engineers and support

staff participated in Exercise Green

Flag West

Italian Eurofighter Typhoons

began NATO air surveillance

in December 2005

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The two-week Exercise Green Flag West wasto be the stage on which the aircraft’s abili-ty to provide Close Air Support would bedemonstrated. With up to 24 aircraft in theskies at any one time, the Eurofighter Typhoons, often operating alongside USAFF-16 jets, utilised their Link 16 data-link capability, emphasising the benefit of its in-teroperability and situational awarenesstechnology.

On typical sorties, the Eurofighter Typhoons would be configured with fourEnhanced Paveway II bombs, a Litening IIIpod, two AMRAAMs, two ASRAAMs and two 1,000L droptanks, delivering a missionendurance of up to two hours.

The exercise was declared an astonish-ing success. Additional deployments areplanned for later in 2008 and into 2009 but,as of 01 July 2008, Eurofighter Typhoon,with its proven multi-role capability, is combat primed and ready to deploy.

Ready to deploy status: confirmed

On 21 April, seven Eurofighter Typhoonsfrom the Royal Air Force’s XI Squadron departed for the United States for a sevenweek deployment to demonstrate the “Aus-tere Capability”. Although work with theLitening III pod had been covered in the UKwith industry assistance, only on arrivingat Davis-Monthan AFB did the squadronhave the opportunity to familiarise them-selves with the system.

A week of work-up activities was followedby two weeks of live sorties during whichthe squadron released 67 1,000lb bombs.Overall, the exercise statistics were impres-sive: 100% of stores landed within their circular error of probability distance; 65%recorded direct hits, around 700 roundswere dispersed from the aircraft’s Mauser27mm cannon; and 99.3% of the plannedsortie rate was achieved.

With this success under their belt, XISquadron progressed onto Nellis AFB to bejoined by a further three Eurofighter Typhoons from 17 Squadron, increasing theUK presence to ten jets, 20 pilots andaround 150 engineers and support staff.

Eurofighter Update is published byEurofighter GmbH, PR & CommunicationsAm Söldnermoos 17, 85399 HallbergmoosTelephone +49 (0) 811-80 1587

Editorial representativeWolfdietrich HoevelerVP PR & Communications

EditorPhillip Lee

PhotographyEurofighter GmbH, Eurofighter Partner Companies,German Air Force, Italian Air Force, Royal Air Force, Austrian Air Force, Geoffrey Lee, Planefocus Ltd.

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Quotes:

Commander-in-Chief RAF Air Command,Air Chief Marshal Sir Clive Loader:"The declaration of Typhoon being multi-rolecapable is a truly significant step in the devel-opment of this remarkable aircraft. This lat-est capability upgrade means that the RoyalAir Force now has in its inventory its most operationally flexible aircraft ever."

Station Commander of RAF Coningsby andTyphoon Force Commander, Group CaptainStuart Atha:“We’ve inserted a great deal of capability onto the platform in a really short period oftime. In terms of the difficult stuff, it’s jobdone. We are ready to declare.”

XI Squadron Commanding Officer, WingCommander Gavin Parker:“It has been an outstanding success. The aircraft loved the hot and dry conditions.”And describing the exercise: “The complexityof the exercise is astonishing. This is the bestpreparation for contemporary operations thatmoney can buy.”

British Army 4th Battalion Ground LiaisonOfficer to XI Squadron, Major SimonNewiss:“I can appreciate the difference the Typhoonis going to make. It’s ability to stay over thetop is superior to what we’ve got.”

The Exercise was an “outstanding success”Post flight at Nellis AFB

Eurofighter Typhoon: Ready to deploy