the prototype DA1 on performance…
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The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft. It was designed and is built by a consortium Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems and EADS through Eurofighter GmbH which was formed in 1986. As early as 1979, studies began into what would become the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The series production of the Eurofighter Typhoon is now underway. The aircraft has entered service with the German Luftwaffe (Jagdgeschwader 74), Italian Air Force, Spanish Air Force and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. Austria has purchased 15 Typhoons and Saudi Arabia has signed a GB£4.43 billion (approx. €6.4 billion c. 2007) contract for 72 aircraft.
Production
The first production contract was signed on 30 January 1998 between Eurofighter GmbH, Eurojet and NETMA. The procurement totals were as follows: UK 232, Germany 180, Italy 121, and Spain 87. Production was again allotted according to procurement: British Aerospace (37%), DASA (29%), Aeritalia (19.5%), and CASA (14%).
On 2 September 1998 a naming ceremony was held at Farnborough, England. This saw the Typhoon name formally adopted, however initially for export aircraft only. This was reportedly resisted by Germany; The Hawker Typhoon was a fighter-bomber aircraft which served with the RAF during the Second World War against German targets. In September 1998 contracts were signed for production of 148 Tranche 1 aircraft and procurement of long lead-time items for Tranche 2 aircraft.
The Typhoon’s combat performance compared to the new F-22 Raptor and the upcoming F-35 Lightning II fighter under development in the United States and the Dassault Rafale developed in France, has been the subject of much discussion.
In March 2005, United States Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper, then the only person to have flown both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Raptor, talked to Air Force Print News about these two aircraft. He said,
” The Eurofighter is both agile and sophisticated, but is still difficult to compare to the F/A-22 Raptor. They are different kinds of airplanes to start with; it’s like asking us to compare a NASCAR car with a Formula 1 car. They are both exciting in different ways, but they are designed for different levels of performance.
Further, “The Eurofighter is certainly, as far as smoothness of controls and the ability to pull (and sustain high G forces), very impressive,” he said. “That is what it was designed to do, especially the version I flew, with the avionics, the color moving map displays, etc. — all absolutely top notch. The maneuverability of the airplane in close-in combat was also very impressive.
Jumper also went on to say in comparing the two aircraft “The F/A-22 Raptor has stealth and supercruise,” he said. “It has the ability to penetrate virtually undetected because of (those) capabilities. It is designed to be a penetrating airplane. It can maneuver with the best of them if it has to, but what you want to be able to do is get into contested airspace no matter where it is.
The Typhoon is capable of supersonic cruise without using afterburner. According to the official German Luftwaffe website, the maximum speed possible without reheat is Mach 1.2.
In 2002, the MBDA Meteor was selected as the long range air-to-air missile armament of Eurofighter Typhoon. Pending Meteor availability, Typhoon will be equipped with the Raytheon AMRAAM. The current in-service date for Meteor is predicted to be August 2012.
The Eurofighter consortium claims their fighter has a larger sustained subsonic turn rate, sustained supersonic turn rate, and faster acceleration at 0.9 at 20,000 feet than the F-15, F-16, F-18, Mirage 2000, Rafale, the Su-27, and the MiG-29.
Author: tasoscorsair
Keywords: Greece HAF readines scramble dogfight stealth kill
Added: November 4, 2007
