PROGRAMME NEWS & FEATURES 2/2011

THE EVOLUTION - EUROFIGHTER 2020

THE REVOLUTION - A REAL 5TH GENERATION FIGHTER

MORE AIR-TO-GROUNDCAPABILITIES

collaboration between air forces and industry.They have created an efficient and effectivelogistic support system with a definite trendtowards the reductions in operating costs.This is a key element that could turn out to bedecisive in our efforts to assure export contractsfor the Eurofighter.The “urban myths” describing the Typhoon asan expensive aircraft in both procurementand operating costs, are easily challengedwhen you have such tangible evidence to thecontrary. In recent months we have noticedthat many of our competitors have had toadmit that their costs are well over those ofthe Typhoon, including those aircraft offeringlower performance levels.India, Japan, the Gulf and Central Europeremain the key elements of our marketingstrategy, but we watch closely new, possibletargets coming from changing politicalconditions, such as Canada and Denmark,which might well turn out to be very interest-ing once we consider that, by definition, theTyphoon is a perfect “Arctic fighter”: twin-engined to assure a wide operational safetymargin; long range; high speed and altitude;long-range radar; long-range missiles; alreadytested in coldest weather conditions; perfectinteroperability with a ground command andcontrol system; plus a proven multi-rolecapability in combat. In the coming months we will know whetherthe investment in presenting the Eurofighterto markets with solid proposals will lead toreal success. In the meantime, we can recorda renewed commitment by the governments of the four partner countries to support theexport of the Typhoon, which is a fundamen-tal aspect of our business. In fact the saying“without political support, it is impossible tosell a fighter” remains valid.

Enjoy this Issue

Enzo CasoliniCEO Eurofighter GmbH

Welcome to a newedition of EurofighterWorld that comes toyou during an impor-tant time in theEurofighter programme.After starting the yearsurpassing 100,000

flying hours, Eurofighter Typhoons begancombat missions in Libya on 21st March 2011as part of operation Odyssey Dawn. Operatingin a combat mission for the first time,Typhoons from the RAF have been deployedto Gioia del Colle in Southern Italy, and havebeen working alongside the Italian Typhoonsdeployed to Trapani, in Sicily. Our fleet ofTyphoons have been patrolling the skiesabove Libya to enforce the no-fly zone andhave been active in multi-role missions,successfully using Paveway II guided bombsagainst Libyan forces. The recent news thatEurofighter Typhoon has been shortlistedalong with Rafale in the Indian MMRCAcompetition is great news for the programmeand confirmation that our aircraft is excep-tional in many ways, but particularly in termsof technical capabilities. We look forward toworking with the Indian Ministry of Defenceas they progress through the procurementprocess. Perfectly interoperable with other Nation’s airforce assets, the operations in Libya haveproven once more what we already knew:Eurofighter Typhoon is a mature platformwith exceptional levels of performance andmulti-role capabilities. Above all, this missionhas shown that the aircraft is capable ofbeing quickly deployed, guaranteeing opera-tional readiness wherever and wheneverneeded. With proven high levels of efficiencyand with a sustained rate of missions,Eurofighter is proving yet again that it is theultimate choice in air-to-air as well as air-to-ground missions. Highly efficient when deployed overseas aswell as when operating from home bases, theTyphoons are delivering better operationalavailability rates than any other aircraft withinthe customer nations’ air forces. Primarilythis shows us the exceptional achievements of

Enzo CasoliniCEO Eurofighter GmbH

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32/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLDE D I T O R I A L

03 EDITORIAL FROM ENZO CASOLINI, CEO EUROFIGHTER GMBH

04 EUROFIGHTER NEWS

08 EVOLUTION – TYPHOON 2020

10 REVOLUTION – THE REAL 5TH GENERATION FIGHTER

14 THE TYPHOON STAYS IN THE RACE FOR THE NEW INDIAN FIGHTER

17 MORE AIR-TO-GROUND CAPABILITIES

18 TYPHOON QUICK REACTION ALERT

20 SMOKE IN THE AIR

23 THE PERFECT FIT

Eurofighter World is published byEurofighter GmbH, PR & CommunicationsAm Söldnermoos 17, 85399 HallbergmoosTel: +49 (0) 811-80 1587communications@eurofighter.com

Editorial TeamMarco Valerio BonelliKathryn HolmMartina SchmidmeirAxel Haeger-Carrion

ContributersLaurie Hilditch, EurofighterLars Joergensen, EurofighterRob Wells, EurofighterBAE SystemsAlenia AeronauticaJamie Plummer

PhotographyEurofighter GmbHEurofighter Partner CompaniesGeoffrey Lee, PlanefocusKlaus DürrbeckItalian Air ForceGerman Air ForceRoyal Air Force

Design & Productionimages.art.design. Werbeagentur GmbHwww.iad-design.de

Printed byESTA Druck GmbHwww.esta-druck.de

Eurofighter World on the Internetwww.eurofighter.comFollow us on:

If you would like to request additional copies ofEurofighter World, please contact the PR & Communications Department at Eurofighter GmbHcommunications@eurofighter.com

June 2011

10REVOLUTION –

THE REAL 5TH GENERATION

FIGHTER

CONTENTS

Title:Major Beltrame, Italian Air Force, climb his Typhoon after taking off at Aero India 2011

Photography: Aeronautica Militare – RSV

08EVOLUTION – TYPHOON 2020

2/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLD

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A RIGHT ROYAL AFFAIRTHE BEST OF BRITISH

At around 1330hrs on Friday 29th April 2011,a flypast took place in the skies over BuckinghamPalace to celebrate the marriage of HRH PrinceWilliam to Catherine Middleton. This historic flightconsisted of a Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricanejets from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight,which was then followed 30 seconds later by twoRAF Typhoons and two Tornado GR4s in box for-mation. The aircraft passed over the wedding par-ty, who were gathered on the balcony of the palace.The Typhoon roared past the happy couple whocould be seen gazing up into the skies along withthousands of visitors who stood outside the gatesof the palace waiting for a glimpse of the new Dukeand Duchess of Cambridge. Just as William andCatherine will define the future of the BritishMonarchy in the coming decades, EurofighterTyphoon will define the future of British Air Power. A fitting example of the best of British.

Eurofighter Typhoon participated in the 10th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2011 inFebruary, the largest defence and securityevent in the Middle East and North Africanregion. The show took place from Sunday20th to Thursday 24th, at the Abu DhabiNational Exhibition Centre, in the UnitedArab Emirates.Eurofighter displayed a selection from thefull range of capabilities of the Typhoon atthe show, including: The Active Electroni-cally Scanned Array (AESA) radar that of-fers a next generation array with the addi-tion of an innovative re-positioner to broad-en the field of regard to +/- 100°, the mostadvanced Helmet Mounted Symbology

System (HMSS) that forms a key component of Eurofighter Typhoon’s weapon system, the Meteor missile, considered the “gamechanger” in terms of kill probability thanksto its dynamic performances, speed andrange and the Thrust Vectoring Nozzle forthe Eurojet EJ200 engines.Already in service with the Royal Saudi AirForce, the Typhoon is considered the perfect“desert eagle”. The aircraft already demon-strates its full capabilities in the hot and humid climate of the Gulf region. Thanks toits exceptional thrust-to-weight ratio, theTyphoon suffers less than other fighters in

ULTIMATE AIR POWER ON DISPLAY AT IDEX 2011 IN ABU DHABI

IDEX 2011

challenging environments and is able to fully exploit its payload capability and range performances. Totally interoperable with current as well as predicted Gulf and allied Air Force assets, the Typhoon is theideal coalition fighter to offer deterrence tothe Gulf States today and in the future.

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Mission “DAEDALUS 11” which beganon the 26th January 2011 and ran until the30th, demanded intensive air surveillanceand security for the 41st World EconomicForum in Davos, Switzerland. For this im-portant mission the Austrian Eurofighterswere again called upon to protect the skiesduring a high-profile event.Around 2,500 participants attended the Fo-rum, amongst them were high rankingpoliticians from all over the world as well asinternational economic experts. Austria’sTyphoons scrambled from their Air Base inZeltweg, Styria to provide air superiority inthe area over Tyrol and Vorarlberg, regionsthat are on the border to Switzerland andclose to Davos. The Austrian pilots involvedin “DAEDALUS 11” were ready to intercept,escort or force to land any unauthorised air-craft trying to enter the protected air spaceduring the event.

The Austrian Air Force have been in greatdemand in the past for air surveillance mis-sions in the surrounding areas – rangingfrom protecting the skies above the Euro-pean Football Championships in 2008 inAustria and Switzerland to air policing overNATO’s Defence Ministers meeting inBratislava, Slovakia in 2009.

provided the opportunity to train CAS anddogfight scenarios with the Italian Typhoonsin different environments.

The Danes were excited about the oppor-tunity to fly against the Eurofighter Typhoon,which they acknowledge has superior per-formance and engine power when comparedto their updated F-16.

NEW EUROFIGHTER SCREENSAVERLAUNCHED With a new year comes a new Eurofighterscreensaver and 2011 is no exception. De-signed to highlight the international natureof the Typhoon programme, this latestscreensaver will keep you occupied forhours when you really should be working.With 16 units located across the globe fromthe east coast of Scotland to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, this year’sscreensaver is an interactive map thatshows you the latest breathtaking imagesfrom the Eurofighter Typhoon, taken at locations around the globe. Take a look foryourself and download the latest screensaverfrom our website: http://www.eurofighter.com/eurofighter-world/screensaver.html

THE 2011 PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITIONHOTS UP Following the launch of the EurofighterTyphoon Amateur Photography Competitionin the last edition of Eurofighter World, wehave been inundated with some fantasticphotos – but there is still plenty of time tosubmit your entry! The competition runsuntil the end of August 2011 and the winnerwill see their photo included in the 2012

Eurofighter Calendar. Get your entry in nowfor your chance of winning. Terms and Con-ditions can be found on our website in theEurofighter World pages under ”photo com-petition”. Good luck!

EUROFIGHTER OPERATIONAL WITHTOM CLANCY: H.A.W.X. 2 RELEASED Tactical manoeuvres, precise weaponryand allied support - all can be experiencedin Ubisoft’s new f light combat gameH.A.W.X. 2, recently released for PC andconsoles. One of the highlights in the gameis the Eurofighter Typhoon. The name TomClancy stands out in the world of gaming torepresent espionage, special tactical opera-tions and war games. With the launch ofH.A.W.X. 2, the second edition of the game,Typhoon is back in the air again in what is a

significantly improved version of the game.The Typhoon, which can be flown on severaldifferent missions in the game, was rankedas one of the favourites among the 31 differ-ent aircraft models. It seems like Ubisoft have made some im-provements to this latest version, taken thecriticism of the players to heart and tweakedsome of the errors made with the previousgame. One of the major concerns had beenthe scenarios in which the players foundthemselves in. For one, flight simulationfans complained that each mission startedand ended in mid air and the player did nothave the choice to land or take-off.

TWO AUSTRIAN EUROFIGHTER JETS ESCORT TURKISH PRESIDENT'S AIRPLANE During a recent state visit to Austriathe airplane of the President of the Republicof Turkey, Abdullah Gül was escorted by two

Austrian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon jetsas soon as it entered in the Austrian airspace.You can find pictures and a video taken dur-ing the mission on our website.

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IPA4 EUROFIGHTER LOGS 500 FLIGHT HOURS The first Spanish single-seat instru-mented production aircraft (IPA) pioneersthe most advanced technology within theEurofighter programme.

The first single-seat instrumented pro-duction Eurofighter (IPA4) has completed500 hours of flight at the Cassidian Spainfacility at Getafe, near Madrid. This aircraftpioneers the most advanced technologywithin the Eurofighter programme for acceptance and subsequent entry into ser-vice with the national air forces, following a functional upgrade from the originalTranche 1 standard to the more modernTranche 2. This may serve as a model forthe possible upgrade of the Tranche 1 fleetscurrently in service with the nations, andsubstantially increases the aircraft’s capa-bilities.

Test plans include the in-flight verifica-tion of the communication functionalitiesand the MIDS data link system which ex-changes information with other parts of thecombat scenario network as well as integra-tion trials and the launching of air to sur-face weapons.

EUROFIGHTER DEBUT AT IDET IN CZECH REPUBLIC At IDET 2011, the International Exhibi-tion of Defence and Security Technologiesheld in Brno from the 10th-13th May in theCzech Republic, Eurofighter had a signifi-cant presence. The team hosted many visi-tors ranging from government and military

officials to journalists, aviation enthusiastsof every age, students and families. TheEurofighter stand at the show included thelatest Helmet Mounted Symbology System(HMSS), the world’s most advanced helmetfor fighter pilots and a scale model of theTyphoon. On 11th May, Eurofighter GmbH’sBusiness Development Manager Massimil-iano Marchisio and Eurojet’s Vice President

Sales Paul Herrmann were pleased to wel-come General Jiri Verner Commander of theCzech Air Force and Col. Petr Lanci, Chief of Caslav Air Base who were given a guidedtour of the stand. On the same day, Jiri Sedivythe Deputy Minister of Defence for the CzechRepublic and the Chief of General Staff ofthe Czech Army Vlastimil Picek came to visit Eurofighter Typhoon. During their visit,the Czech Republic “White Paper on Defenceand Security commission” which recom-mended to keep the supersonic capability ofthe Czech Air Force was discussed. All“White Paper” issues were made public dur-ing a dedicated press conference held on10th of May at IDET. Now the final decision

on the future of the supersonic fleet is in theCzech parliament and will be deliberatedsoon. The Eurofighter stand became themost popular place to be during the showwhen 11 Czech contenders for an Interna-tional Beauty Pageant “Princess of the World2011” stopped by to have their picturestaken with the Eurofighter scale model.

EXERCISE “WINTER HIDE”: ITALIAN 4° STORMO HOSTED THE ROYALDANISH AIR FORCE Eurofighter Typhoon’s from the 4° Stor-mo in Grosseto, Italy hosted the Royal Dan-ish Air Force in a joint exercise at Grosseto,in February.

The joint exercise known as “Winter Hide2011” saw the Royal Danish Air Forceemerge out of hibernation with a team ofeight F-16 operational fighters, three reserveplanes, maintenance equipment, aircraft en-gineers, technicians of all kinds, pilots andforward air controllers, totalling some 100people, to spend four weeks in Italy to enjoybetter weather and exchange knowledge andexperiences with their Italian colleagues.

The Danish F-16s operated in three slotmissions a day to train in close air support(CAS) and air-to-air scenarios. With exercis-es taking place both day and night, the air-craft involved totalled in excess of 600 fly-ing hours. In addition, the US Air Force F-15E jets of 494 FS that were deployed toDecimomannu, Sardinia, also joined the exercise.

The Royal Danish Air Force benefitedfrom the stable weather conditions of Tus-cany as well as from Grosseto’s locationclose to the sea and mountains, which

AUSTRIA’S EUROFIGHTER FLEET PLAYS KEYROLE INMISSION “DAEDALUS 11”

From left to right: Col. Petr Lanci, General Jiri Verner,Massimiliano Marchisio (EF), Paul Herrmann (Eurojet)

Typhoon participated in the NationalAl-Janadriyah Heritage and Culture Festival,held on the 13th of April 2011 within theBAE Systems Saudi Arabia Stand. This isthe first time the company has participatedin this grand annual event, which enjoysthe patronage of the Custodian of the TwoHoly Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

BAE Systems Saudi Arabia was repre-sented by an exhibition space of 400 squaremetres matching the grandeur of the cultur-al festival and showcased its achievementsin the Kingdom. The stand featured modelsof aircraft and land armament vehiclesmanufactured by the company. An interac-tive table was displayed to provide informa-tion about the company's activities in SaudiArabia and the role they play in providingjob opportunities and training programmesfor the Saudi youth. A briefing about thecompany's activities in the areas of socialresponsibility was also a feature displayedin the interactive table. In addition, a replica

of a Typhoon cockpit was exhibited for visi-tors to experience being a Typhoon pilot.

“It was a precision attack from a signifi-cant altitude.

“To be honest, I was a little bit nervousbut you just revert to the training you’vedone before. I’ve dropped a significant num-ber of weapons from the Typhoon in train-

ing. It felt no different from that, only thistime I was even more relieved to see thebomb go exactly where it should have done,in the Litening III image displayed in mycockpit.”

”That makes this capability enduring,and while it may seem like a milestone tosome, it’s just a hurdle that had to be over-come at some point. It has been done, andwe will drop more over the life of the air-craft. I think people are just pleased we’vegot the first one out of the way.”

SAUDI ARABIA EXHIBITION TYPHOON AIRCRAFT CAPABILITY IN JANADRIAH

Overall the number of visitors at the fes-tival totalled more than 7.5 million people.

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E urofighter Typhoon began combatmissions in Libya on 21st March 2011as part of operation Odyssey Dawn

decided by the United Nations SecurityCouncil Resolutions 1970 & 1973.

The mission marked the first time theTyphoons have been deployed in enemycombat and the debut as a swing-role platform.

Perfectly interoperable with the other assets deployed by the coalition air forces,Typhoons are providing air dominance patrolling the UN-imposed no-fly zone to ensure Gaddafi cannot unleash his air forceagainst civilians.

The Royal Air Force pilot who carriedout the first operational Typhoon airstrike on a ground target has been

describing the mission via the BritishForces News website.

The first strike was made against a Libyanregime main battle tank during a missionon Tuesday, 12th April and the pilot involved

said: “I left Gioia Del Colle in a mixed pairwith a Tornado GR4.

“We’d been tasked to Misratah in thewest of Libya, which is pretty much a cityunder siege, with significant numbers of attacks against the civilian population from

pro-regime forces. We were looking alongone of the main supply routes in Misratahwhen we came across a compound witharound 10 – 15 main battle tanks in.

“We reported our findings to the com-mand and control assets we work with andshortly thereafter, were cleared to engage.

“At that point, we generated coordinatesfor the targets and dropped weapons. Eachtime we assessed the likely weapon effectand whether there would be any collateraldamage implications.

RAF Typhoons from Leuchars and Coningsby air bases were redeployed toGioia del Colle, Southern Italy on 20thMarch 2011 joining the resident Eurofightersof 36th Stormo of the Italian Air Force. Thefirst mission was flown on 21st March takingjust over five hours and saw the planes refuelthree times during that period.

In addition, Italian Typhoons were deployed to Trapani air base and joined theoperation to enforce the no-fly zone overLibya on 28th March 2011.

After having flown no-fly zone enforce-ment missions with both the RAF and ItAF,on 12th April the RAF Typhoons started air-to-ground missions, hitting targets withPaveway II guided bombs.

For the enforcement of the no-fly zoneover Libya, Italian Air Force Typhoons wereequipped with 4 AMRAAM medium-rangemissiles and 4 IRIS-T short-range missilesfor use in the no-fly zone enforcement role,while the RAF aircraft were equipped withAMRAAM and ASRAAM short range missilesplus Paveway II guided bombs.

In this Typhoon deployment, the RAFdemonstrated the limited footprint neededto keep a sustained rate of operation. Withonly 100 technicians supporting the Typhoonsdeployed, the aircraft was immediately operational on arrival in Italy.

RAF TYPHOON PILOT DESCRIBES FIRST AIR TO GROUND STRIKE IN LIBYA

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“WE HAVE PROVEN THAT THE JET CAN CARRY WEAPONS A LONG DISTANCE,DROP THEM ACCURATELY, LAND AND GET PUMPED FULL OF FUEL, RELOADEDWITH WEAPONS AND GO AND DO IT AGAIN, DAY IN DAY OUT”.

PART OF OPERATION ODYSSEY DAWN AND UNIFIED PROTECTOR

EUROFIGHTER SWING-ROLE DEBUT IN LIBYA

Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft atGioia Del Colle, Italy, as part ofOperation Ellamy, enforc ing the NoFly Zone over Libya in support of UN SCR 1973.

Royal Air Force Typhoon equipped with Paveway IIbombs taking off from Gioia Del Colle, Italy

Italian Air Force Typhoon taxiing atTrapani air base

Line up of Italian Eurofighter Typhoons at Trapani air base

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weapons, all carefully balanced to ensurehigh survivability and lethality against anythreat in almost any conceivable long orshort-range engagement.

Growth will be managed in four areas:within the platform itself, including thecockpit, avionics, autopilot, the airframeand the engines; externally mounted sensors like targeting pods will be updatedseveral times over the coming decades; ad-ditionally, a multitude of weapons will beintegrated covering a broad range in sophis-tication and capability;finally, the wholesustainment of Typhoon will be continuous-ly modified to keep the fighter at the lead-ing edge of affordability, deployability andmaintainability, whilst concurrently provid-

ing the now well known small logistic foot-print and high availability of the aircraft.

Typhoon’s open architecture allows step-wise technology insertion which ensuresthat upgrades do not become too resourceconsuming and impossible to manage. Theconcept behind this process is to keep Typhoon at the leading edge with the inser-tion of technology carried out only when itis mature enough and affordable to do so.

In the following text, some of theplanned updates will be presented. There isnever enough fuel on any aircraft, so al-though Typhoon has a surprisingly longrange especially at high altitude, larger external tanks and conformal fuel tankswill be added. The latter is actually moremotivated by the need to free up under wingpylons for more weapons.

Typhoon’s sophisticated autopilot (thatprompted one pilot to comment that “Ty-phoon is probably a manned-unmanned

fighter) will be upgraded with new modesand a safety feature called Automatic Critical Altitude Recovery is planned to sup-plement the highly praised Automatic LowSpeed Recovery system.

The Interoperability evolution will be ex-tremely important with continuous up-grades to the fighter’s GPS (navigation), IFF(identification/blue force tracking), MIDS(NATO datalink), IDM and Rover (datalinkto Forward Air Controllers) and SATCOM(voice/broadband to talk to the generals atHeadquarters via satellite).

All will also be developed according tothe guidelines of NATO’s Network EnabledCapability (NNEC) programme.

One of Typhoon’s major advantages overits competitors is the aircraft’s powerfulsensor suite. The high-end Captor mechani-cally scanned radar was wisely implement-ed in the initial tranches of Typhoon giventhat the first AESA radars being producedand in service with our competitors couldnot compete with the Typhoon’s Captorwhich is considered the best mechanicalfighter radar available. Fortunately, the AESA radar technology has evolved rapidlyin the last few years, and is now promisingthe low weight, reduced heat generationand high performance required to beat theCaptor. The Typhoon’s large aperture allowsa Wide Field of Regard (WFOR) solution,where the AESA radar is mounted on arepositioner that makes it possible to pointthe AESA radar anywhere in the Typhoon’sfrontal hemisphere. This is a dramatic im-provement when compared to the fixed

VOR (Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Ranging)

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The newest generation of fighters: Typhoon, Gripen, Raptor, Lightning IIand Rafale, share one significant at-

tribute that separates them from all the pre-vious generations of fighters: they havebeen designed from the beginning to handleextreme amounts of externally as well as internally generated data, and filter this da-ta down to one single “digestible” picturewhich gives the pilot a “God’s view” of thetactical situation – typically called “SensorFusion”.

But just fusing data and sharing it withothers is not enough to either survive onthe battle field or to kill the opponent incontested airspace. In fact, the only conse-quence is that the crew “will die with full

situational awareness” as a pilot graphicallyput it at a recent air show.

So on top of Sensor Fusion, each fighterdesign uses different strategies for surviv-ability and lethality in a combat situation.Some platforms have arguably chosen a singular approach – for example low signa-ture only - others like Typhoon have chosena much more multifaceted and balanced approach to survivability and lethality.

However, this is not enough. There mustbe room for growth – the fighter designmust be able to evolve over time. The per-fect fighter possesses the real estate to copewith unavoidable increases in operationalweight; demand for electrical power andcooling as well as the addition of new sys-

tems and antennas without jeopardising itssurvivability, lethality and perhaps most importantly, its affordability. So as in na-ture, only the most flexible and fittest fight-er design will survive and remain relevantin the long term.

Thanks to this performance surplus, Typhoon is able to absorb the growth whilststill maintaining superiority. EurofighterTyphoon is designed to maintain opera-tional dominance well into the 21st century.This is achieved by combining extreme per-formance, speed, acceleration and manoeu-vrability with superior detection systems, aworld-class electronic warfare system archi-tecture, complemented with reduced signa-ture and a large load of advanced guided

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

EVOLUTION – TYPHOON 2020

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Network Capability andSatellite Communications

Conformal Fuel Tanks

Advanced Helmet MountedSymbology System

Laser Warner Wide Field of Regard AESA Radar

Advanced Targeting Pod

Updated Autopilot

Enhanced Computing Ability

Stand-off Weapon(Storm Shadow, Taurus)

Fuel Dump

Enhanced DASS

Thrust Vectoring Passive MissileWarning System

LERX - Leading EdgeRoot Extensions

Development aircraft DA5 during the tests for the LERX - LeadingEdge Root Extensions (marked in orange at join between the wingand the fuselage).

Typhoon 2020 is the future of the Eurofight-er programme. The aircraft is set to evolvein the coming years with the introduction ofvarious cutting edge technologies. Typhoonin 2020 will be even more capable, more effective, more efficient, more operationallyflexible, more adaptable to the changing scenarios of the next decades.

In the 2015 to 2020 timeframe, this willbe evident through an upgraded Tranche 3aircraft with the incremental delivery of enhanced capabilities.

Beyond 2020, the scenario will be domi-nated by highly capable aircraft such as theTyphoon, the F-35, the PAK-FA and by thenew Chinese projects which will probably

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Storm Shadow. Also, long range glide bombswill be integrated and in combination withthe rest of the weapon system, will for example give the aircraft the capability tofight enemy air defences or ships. Later inthe Typhoon’s career, dedicated maritimeattack capabilities and anti-radiation missiles will be added. Other weapons suchas the highly successful, low-collateral damage Brimstone anti-armour weapon willgive Typhoon’s Close Air Support capabili-ties a lift.

Thanks to its growth potential, it is wide-ly recognised that Typhoon will maintain itsleading edge on weapon loading capability,manoeuvrability and raw aerodynamic performance for the next 40 years.

plate solutions found with even the most advanced competitors.

The Typhoon’s Pirate IRST InfraredSearch and Track system – in reality an “infrared AESA” – and the Praetorian Elec-tronic Warfare system will also evolve continuously.

RecceLite will be the next major evolu-tion of the podded sensors and will provideTyphoon with a leading edge reconnais-sance system. RecceLite has already beendemonstrated and proven in flight evalua-tions and is now being fully integrated.

The WFOR AESA radar combined withthe long-range ramjet powered Meteor air-to-air missile will ensure that Typhoonwill prevail in air-to-air combat for the next decades.

The air-to-surface capability enhance-ments will turn Typhoon into the mostlethal swing-role fighter. It will obtain ex-tended Air Interdiction capabilities includ-ing stand-off weapons such as Taurus and

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be the only major combat aircraft still inproduction at that time.

Typhoon is likely to be the only non-aligned product available to nations wishingto acquire a manned fighter aircraft.

The development plan for Typhoon is already underway, with the target to coverall aspects of the weapon system, includingsuch items as stealth measures, new missionsystems, updated HMI and improved plat-form kinematics (including thrust, mass,

flight envelope, range and fatigue life). The plan can be summarised in the chart above (more details about the plan will bepublished in a next issue of Eurofighter World).

If in the 2015-2020 timeframe the manu-facture of Typhoon will be based on the currently defined Tranche 3 standard (in-cluding the possibility of a dedicated Navalvariant), Typhoon delivered after 2020 willbasically be a new aircraft, potentially

developed thanks to the collaboration withexport customers industries with strongaerospace and defence capabilities.

In the 25 years between 2020 and 2045,the Typhoon fleet (which may also includeretrofitted aircraft from earlierstandards/tranches/blocks) will see newweapons, new sensors, and new communica-tion and datalink systems.

WHAT ISTYPHOON 2020?

MAIN DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT

• Combat Ready • Multi-Role• Carefree Handling

FUTURE CAPABILITY ROAD MAPTests with the METEOR missile are progressing on as planned. The METEOR will be a game changer infuture air-to-air engagements

PHASE 1 ENHANCEMENTS

• Simultaneous Swing-Role• Laser Designator Pod• Enhanced GBU-16 • Paveway IV• Enhanced Defensive Aids• Interoperability upgrades • Enhanced mission

computers with new software architecture

NEXT ENHANCEMENTS

• Meteor BVR Missile• Active E-Scan Radar• Stand-off Weapons• Long Range Glide Bombs • Anti-Armour Missile• Anti-Ship Missile• Satellite Communications• Laser Warner• Passive Missile Warner• Recce/Advanced Targeting • Range Extension• SEAD / DEAD

The political impetus for less risky andless costly platforms for military purposesis leading to a vast expansion in the searchfor unmanned systems and military opera-tions in the last decade have demonstratedthat the UAV’s persistence and endurancehave made it difficult for the adversary to hide.

Compared to humans, machines have theadvantage of endurance, persistence andthe ability to efficiently handle large vol-umes of data. Humans on the other hand,are better able to make complex cognitivedecisions rapidly and are able to infer, inter-pret and synthesize contextual information.

However, the UAVs cannot be a one-for-one replacement for manned platforms.There is no production cost advantage if aUAV is designed to the same reliability, sur-vivability and performance standards asmanned platforms. And as long as UAVs re-main low-density assets, they will continueto be expensive to acquire and operate.

The above vision of multiple UAVs oper-ating alongside the manned Typhoon posesenormous challenges on mission manage-ment technologies such as automation, human-systems interface and dynamic re-planning algorithms.

Permanent concepts and rules for UAVsflying together with manned military andcivilian aircraft need to be developed bothfor a war zone as well as for civilian air-space. If unresolved, this can significantlydegrade the operational effectiveness at war and constrain training in peace time.

Efficient communication is going to be amassive challenge. The data transfer ratesrequired for accomplishment of a single un-manned surveillance sortie (~100 Mbps)

would saturate most of the operational com-munications links available. The bulk of thebandwidth requirement is needed to passraw video data, while UAV command andcontrol takes a very small portion of the required data rate - typically less than onepercent.

Providing the UAVs with autonomy andan on-board processing capability so thatthe UAVs automatically recognise events ofinterests would reduce the data rates re-quired significantly. The UAVs should onlytransmit its status and a very high level description of its environment.

However, the Typhoon pilot may needthe on-board data for analysis, thus negat-ing some on-board processing benefits.Therefore, to avoid data congestion, the Typhoon will operate within line of sight of the UAVs to allow the high data transferrate required. A distance that will keep theTyphoon safe from the predictable surface-

Eurofighter

Eurofighter

Air-to-Surface

Air-to-Air

UCAV

to-air defences around the target but thatwill still offer a quick reaction time to engage a target. There will be a lot of workdetermining the optimum mix of on-boardand off-board processing.

As the systems develop greater autono-my, dynamic planning and re-planning cy-cles will speed up, operators will need tounderstand the unmanned vehicle’s level ofautonomy, trust it appropriately and dynam-ically shift their control of the vehicle to re-spond to these faster cycles. Further more,methods of positive control of weapons willneed to be determined.

When will the vision become reality? Itwill take at least twenty years for this revo-lution to materialise, which includes 10-15years to transition from a demonstrated lab-oratory capability into an operationallyfielded system, followed by 5-10 years ofspiral development of the system until theultimate derivative is in production.

In the above scenario, the Typhoon willbe the playmaker, assisting where help is

required and whereopportunities appear.The manned, swing-role Typhoon will bethe ideal UAV partnerthanks to its flexibili-ty, large flight enve-lope, growth potentialand ability to fill anycombat task from at-tacking a surface target to air-to-airroles (including theprotection of the UAVsoperating over the tar-get area). Togetherthey will be the true5th Generationweapon system!

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the 360 degree spherical world comprisingthe full battlefield and all its participantsinto one picture, allowing the single-seatTyphoon to safely interact with all the assetsunder its command. The Commander brieflyappreciates that it took nearly two decades oflaboratory research and flight tests to get thisfar. Everything is calm, but suddenly a scout-UAV detects suspicious activity and via a low-bandwidth signal activates a voice warningand the appropriate indications on the PigeonFormat. The Commander zooms in on thescene and with a voice command establishesa high bandwidth multispectral video link tothe scout via the mothership. In the middle of a cluttered scenario, whichnot even the normally very reliable AutomaticTarget Recognition function can handle, theonly human involved in this event immediate-ly recognises the target everybody andeverything has been searching for in the lastcouple of weeks. The target identity is confirmed and the Typhoonimmediately accelerates to supersonic speedto provide the chosen glide bomb with enoughenergy to hit effectively.While the Commander monitors the livetransmission from the scout, the Typhoon‘sautopilot flies the fighter into the optimalposition in space and time and releases theweapon. The scout controls the rest; although

Close Air Support 2030: “A Typhoon checksinto the Forward Air Controller Network asMission Commander, replacing anotherTyphoon which has just completed its slot.The Typhoon pilot gets the latest update viathe venerable MIDS datalink includinginformation on how many autonomous scout-UAVs are docked to the scout mothership andchecks the status of the two unmanned In-FlightRefuelling Tankers in the area. The pilottakes note that the tanker in the NorthernSector will have to leave soon. With anaffirmative command the Typhoon pilot –now the FAC Commander - assumes charge of the mission and selects the FAC phase offlight. This amazingly intuitive mode uses aninnovative display format (also called “ThePigeon Format” by the pilots) which projects

REVOLUTION

the Commander remains ready to abort theengagement if required. Having achievedtotal tactical surprise, the target is successful-ly destroyed two minutes later. Both the scoutUAV and the Typhoon automatically - usingthe popular Auto-In-Flight-RefuellingAutopilot mode - hook up with the remainingIn Flight Refuelling UAV. With full tanks, theTyphoon continues its mission while the scoutreturns to the mothership. The UAVs havetruly become the forward eye and extendedarms of the Typhoon”

Throughout military aviation history,advances in technology have greatlyenhanced the aerodynamic perfor-

mance and firepower of fighter aircraft.When compared to the old F-15 Eagles, F-18Hornets and F-16 fighters, the presentweapon system generation - Typhoon,Gripen, Rafale, F-22 and F-35 - have revolu-tionised aerial warfare through networkingand sensor fusion of externally and inter-nally generated data.

The next major revolution will be theintegration of manned and unmanned sys-tems into one operational “organism” wherethe boundaries between each independententity dissolve. The aircraft capable of play-ing a role in this evolved scenario will trulybe a 5th Generation fighter.

2/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLD R E V O L U T I O N12

Eurofighter

Eurofighter

Air-to-Surface

Air-to-Air

UCAV

US Single Engine LO

US Single Engine LO

Air-to-Surface

Air-to-Air

UCAV

US Single Engine LO

US Single Engine LO

Air Superiority Gap

FORCE STRUCTURE OPTIONS – TIMEFRAME 2025 ONWARDS

THE KEY EQUATION: TYPHOON + UCAV > JSF + UCAV

THE REAL5TH GENERATION FIGHTER

Eurofighter technology and industrialprocesses are world class. The Typhoon ismade up of 80% composite materials, theaeronautical material of the future, alreadyused for civil, military and UAV applicationsand will be the solution of choice for any fu-ture major designs. The companies able tomanage the composite material in an effi-cient and effective way will have an edgeover their competitors as the new materialoffers - with respect to the metal alloys - atleast 20% less weight at the same level of re-sistance and the possibility to shape thesurfaces at will, to obtain the best possibleaerodynamic design.

Currently comprised of four PartnerCompanies, the Eurofighter consortium hasbeen vocal in offering to India the chance tobecome a new Industrial Partner. Eurofight-er is truly an international aircraft pro-gramme and if India were to select the Ty-phoon over the Rafale, they would gain en-gineering and manufacturing excellencefrom Europe’s leading aerospace industries.

Adeployment far from the operationalbase, operating with a reduced num-ber of personnel and spare parts on

a crucial mission: demonstrating the excel-lence of what is today the flagship of Euro-pean technology to a market that is poten-tially worth 10 billion EUR – India.

We are talking about the deployment oftwo Italian Air Force Typhoons last Febru-ary, to Yelahanka air force base near Banga-lore – India's technology capital – for AeroIndia 2011, Asia’s leading military aviationexhibition. The show provided a privilegedshowcase for the tender launched by the Indian Ministry of Defence in Delhi to mod-ernise the Indian Air Force's fighter aircraft.

The Italian Air Force was asked to sup-port the commercial efforts of European andItalian industry, which plays a key role inthe Eurofighter programme through Fin-meccanica and Alenia Aeronautica.

With less than a month's notice, the Ital-ian Air Force seemed to be faced with noth-ing short of “mission impossible”. As a mat-ter of fact, the mission was planned in avery short space of time (the kick-off meet-ing took place 25 days before departure),demonstrating the operational flexibility ofthe Italian Air Force and of the aircraft. Theindividual legs of the journey – Souda Bay,Greece; Al Azraq, Jordan; Doha, Qatar; andJamnagar, India on the way out, and Ahmed-abad, India and on the return leg, Minhad,UAE; and back to Al Azraq and Souda Bay–had to be rescheduled on a daily basis dueto diplomatic difficulties and customs issues.

The mission support system (MSS) wasable to respond rapidly to the various de-mands, making it possible to ensure thatall the necessary tasks were completed onschedule.

152/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLDE X P O R T

This choice serves to reaffirm the superi-ority of the Eurofighter over its competitors.

With the down-selection made, the fullprocurement process has started. It was an-nounced by the Indian authorities that theirgoal is to have it completed before spring2012. India has fixed a 50 percent offset re-quirement for the MMRCA deal to ensurethat half of the deal's worth is reinvested inIndia to energise its defence industry. Thisis a fundamental step that would see Eu-rofighter fully involved in providing Indiawith the best industry partnership pro-gramme possible.

On 28th April, great news began seep-ing out from the press in India: theTyphoon had been shortlisted for

the fighter tender launched by the IndianMinistry of Defence for 126 aircraft - a dealthat has a potential value of between 10 and11 billion dollars and is considered the mostimportant in the international aerospacemarket, guaranteeing for the winners con-tinued production well into the next decade.

The Eurofighter office in India did in-deed receive the official letter asking thecompany to extend the validity of its com-mercial envelope until the end of 2011, ef-fectively confirming the down-selection ofthe Typhoon for the Indian tender.

This, it has been said, is a choice madeexclusively on the basis of the technicalevaluations completed in April 2010 on 643parameters that have seen four of the sixcompetitors in the tender - the F-18, F-16,Gripen and MiG-35 – knocked out of therace. The competing aircraft did not passthe flight and weapons evaluation trials.The Indian evaluation has been the mostrigorous and comprehensive ever done forany tender with live bomb drop and mis-siles launches, in-country tests and evalua-tion - including at high altitude and in thedesert during hot and humid conditions.

TYPHOON STAYS IN THE RACE FORTHE NEW INDIAN FIGHTER

SHORTLISTED2/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLD E X P O R T14

PERFECT JOBAT AERO INDIA 2011

100% OPERATIONAL AVAILABILITY, NO DEFECTS, TOTAL INTEROPERABILITY

During the show in India, neither of thetwo aircraft used suffered any defects thatrestricted their operational availability. Themissions were all completed on time, bothwith regard to the transfer to and from In-

dia and the display flights at the exhibition.The two reserve aircraft on stand-by atGioia del Colle Air Base were not used.

The mission was carried out using a re-duced logistics footprint equating to 11 aircargo pallets, including two pallets requiredto transport the aircraft equipment neces-sary for the display, such as the smoke gen-erators to be fitted to the aircraft.

There were just 15 maintenance techni-cians from the operational units on hand,who were mainly responsible for managingItalian Air Force Typhoons on ”pole position” in a line up at Aero India 2011

The Italian Typhoon Team celebrating ”ZeroDefects” after a successful air show.

Major Beltrame, Italian Air Force Display Pilot ready for hisdisplay flight at Aero India 2011

THE TECHNICAL EVALUATION CONFIRMED THE SUPERIORITY OF THE EUROFIGHTER OVER F-18, F-16, GRIPEN AND MIG-35

>>>

The first ever release of a Paveway IVprecision guided bomb from a Typhoonaircraft, using the avionics system to

safely release the weapon, was achieved inan hour long test flight over the AberporthRange in Wales in March 2011. The integra-tion of Paveway IV demonstrates a commit-ment to enhance and upgrade Typhoon’s capabilities in its ground attack role andforms part of the Typhoon Future CapabilityUpgrade.

BAE Systems Typhoon Test Pilot NatMakepeace, who was at the controls of de-velopment aircraft IPA6 that made the re-lease, said: “This was a successful test flightdemonstrating the avionics system is ableto use global positioning system (GPS) dataand target information sourced from the air-craft to prepare for the release. All commu-nication with the aircraft and safe release ofthe bomb went to plan.”

Paveway IV is a highly accurate, precisionguided bomb capable of significantly minimisingcollateral damage. It is low cost and will pro-vide Typhoon pilots with the very best tech-nology for operations with its all-weather,day and night precision capability.

The test is part of an ongoing programmeto integrate Paveway IV onto the aircraft andbuilds on the environmental and jettison tri-als which have already been performed.

The Eurofighter’s air-to-ground capabiliteswere further improved in April when part-ner company Cassidian Spain achieved thefirst EGBU-16 precision guided munitionavionic release.

This trial saw the EGBU-16 being suc-cessfully released from a Eurofighter air-craft and focused on the functional integra-tion into the weapon system.

The EGBU-16 is the selected dual modeprecision guided munition for Germany,Spain and Italy, whereas the Paveway IVprecision guided bomb is the choice for theUK. Included in the broad-ranging Phase 1Enhancement (P1E) programme, bothweapons improve the all weather precisionattack capability on the Typhoon.

The Typhoon aircraft has been autonomous-ly air-to-ground capable since 2008 whenthe Industry successfully integrated thePaveway II laser guided bomb with theLitening III laser designator pod, for use bythe Royal Air Force. Demonstrating an

unrivalled precision, the combination ofweapons has been tested during several exercises both in the UK and abroad, con-firming the built-in multi-role capability of the Typhoon.

The recent flight tests with state-of-the-art air-to-surface and air-to-air munitionshave proven the cutting edge all weathermultirole capability of the Typhoon into thenext decades. Future planned and agreeddevelopment work and flight testing willcontinue to assure this market-leading capa-bility is the most advanced new generationaircraft on the market, integrating the AirForces’ latest weapons of choices in a timelyand cost efficient way.

TYPHOON SUCCESSFULLY ADDS

MORE AIR-TO-GROUND CAPABILITIES

172/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLDF U T U R E C A P A B I L I T I E S

GUIDO CROSETTOPOLITICAL SUPPORT KEY TO EXPORT

INTERVIEWThe Eurofighter is the most important Euro-pean defence programme in which the Ital-ian industry is involved. What do you thinkabout this participation? Involvement in a programme of this technolog-ical significance and strategic importance en-ables the Italian industrial system (and by thisI mean all its component parts, from majorcompanies to small and medium-sized busi-nesses, or second-level suppliers) and the de-fence industry to grow even further and toreaffirm its tradition of excellence in aeronau-tics which stretches back almost a century.Programmes of such striking importance, inwhich relationships, interconnections and ex-changes of expertise and information with Eu-ropean partners form essential elements andrepresent a fundamental requirement for theachievement of the specified objective, bringwith them strategic benefits such as techno-logical returns, as well as direct and indirectemployment equating to around 12,000 jobsin the high-tech sector and around the samenumber of jobs per year in supporting indus-tries. This production and maintenance capac-ity is attributable not just to the internationalprogramme itself, but also to its continuationover time, especially if the aircraft becomes,or rather continues to be a success on the ex-port market, as demonstrated by sales of air-craft to Austria and Saudi Arabia.

Do you think that it would be possible to“open” the participation on the programmeto new partner nations and industries? It is certainly true that a number of countriesare interested in becoming partners in theprogramme, and this should be seen as an op-portunity to share costs to keep the produc-tion running and possibly gain an additionaltechnological contribution. It is also true thatany such involvement would only apply to fu-ture evolutions of the aircraft, i.e. to new de-

Guido CrosettoItalian Undersecretary of Defence

velopments. To prepare for this eventualityand in view of the interest shown by certaincountries, we are working to establish a legalframework, such as a memoranda of under-standing and protocols of intent, to enablethose already interested and any countries in-terested in the future to know in advance theexact rules of engagement.

Which countries do you think could be inter-ested in becoming a partner of the Eu-rofighter programme?It would be very restrictive to name only a fewcountries; let's just say that there is a lot ofinterest in the aircraft and that this interest isnot confined to any geographical limits. Somecampaigns are certainly very "hot" and are be-ing followed extremely closely, as are all theothers, by the people responsible for exports.In terms of numbers and strategic impor-tance, India is definitely one of these, as mypresence and the presence of my counter-parts from the other founding nations of theprogramme at the Bangalore Air Show lastFebruary confirms. The number of requestsfor information is increasing and the receiptof various requests for proposal demonstratesthe value of the aircraft in absolute terms.

The Typhoon has been in service since theend of 2003, so it’s still at the beginning ofits operational career. What do you see asthe future for the Eurofighter?To improve and enhance the aircraft's operat-ing capabilities, the participating countrieshave agreed to launch new developments. Thealready launched and financed upgrade pro-grammes carried through by the Eurofighterpartner companies will later be followed byother innovations that will ensure that the air-craft's operational capabilities continue to beat the cutting edge of technology. The Ty-phoon was designed to have extensive growthcapability, in view of the fact that it is intend-ed to remain in service and to continue tomeet national operational requirements until2040. It should also be noted that the partici-pating countries are considering adoptingelectronic scanning radar, which signals aclear generational shift that will enhance theaircraft's operational capability and make iteven more attractive to the export market.

And, as a final question, when will you fly a Typhoon?This is in fact a question that I have been ask-ing myself for some time. Given my involve-ment in the programme, I really think I de-serve a flight in this magnificent fighter…

“I REALLY THINK I DESERVE A FLIGHT IN THISMAGNIFICENT FIGHTER…”

2/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLD E X P O R T16

the aircraft during the transfer to and fromIndia, while the seven specialists from theExperimental Test Flight Unit of ItAF wereprimarily concerned with looking after theaircraft during the air show.

No spare parts were used during themission, since there were no malfunctionsthat required components to be replaced.

The aircraft's engineering supportsystem (ESS) was made operational in oneof the two C-130Js used to assist the trans-fer from Italy, thereby simplifying manage-ment of the aircraft and removing the needfor customs documentation for the variouslegs of the journey.

For the transfer phase, the aircraft weredeployed i n a configuration with three ex-ternal fuel tanks, affording the maximumlevel of range without the need for in-flightrefuelling, which helped to keep down costsand minimise the logistics footprint.

Thanks to the aircraft's long range, itwas possible to limit the number of legs onthe outward journey to five, and the samenumber on the return journey. In actualfact, the original plan was to have four legs,but with Cairo West airport unavailable dueto the political unrest in Egypt, the routewas extended, necessitating the addition ofanother stop.

As stated above two C-130Js were used toassist the operation, one as an "advanced"aircraft tasked with preparing the arrival ofthe Typhoons at the various air bases, andone as a "sweeper", with the job of assistingthe Typhoons until take-off from the basesand dealing with any technical issues, althoughfortunately none occurred.

The operational flexibility of the Typhoonwas amply demonstrated by the aircraft'sability to operate with ease even in civil air-ports. The ground support equipment, par-ticularly generators and refuelling facilitiesof five different countries (Greece, Jordan,Qatar, UAE and India), normally used forcivil aircraft, proved to be fully interopera-ble with the Typhoon.

This major success confirms past experi-ences where Typhoons from various airforces have been deployed to other bases,including bases far from their home territo-ry: the aircraft offers a high level of opera-tional availability, a limited logistics footprint,a long transfer range and total interoper-ability with equipment at forward operatingbases or civil airports.

All this, plus the hundreds of thousandsof spectators were left gazing in amazementat the stunning manoeuvres executed by theItalian Typhoons during Aero India!

EGBU-16 test with IPA4 aircraft taken in Spain

confident because it’s what you have trainedfor. It also requires a huge amount of trustin the team around you”.

“The real backbone of the team is thepeople who ensure the aircraft is fit for pur-pose and ready to perform because, whenyou press that button, everything needs towork first time.” Considering there are 147computers in a Typhoon, across 19 differentnetworks, that is some responsibility.

In March 2009, BAE Systems was award-ed a contract by the UK MOD for the main-tenance and support of the Typhoon fleet.Called the Typhoon Availability Service(TAS), it’s a partnering arrangement withthe MOD, which sees the company take a

major role in ensuring the availability of theTyphoon fleet to meet its standing and con-tingent operational commitments.

BAE Systems staff, quite literally, workside-by-side with MOD and RAF personnelat RAF Coningsby, and RAF Leuchars. Be-tween them, they ensure that when there isa QRA and the pilot has to press that button,everything works. A strong relationship istherefore absolutely essential.

Spend a day at RAF Coningsby in East Lin-colnshire and it quickly becomes apparentthis really is a team effort. Dominating theairfield is a brand new hangar, called theTyphoon Maintenance Facility, which wasbuilt by the MOD 18 months ago. It housesthe Typhoon aircraft and is the most advancedfacility of its type in use across the RAF.

It is operated by a joint team of RAF andBAE Systems staff – around 400 BAE Systemspersonnel work at the base in total – andthat’s where the main maintenance work iscarried out.

In October 2010, the Typhoon Availabili-ty Service was extended to the second mainoperating base, RAF Leuchars in Fife to co-incide with the deployment of 6 Squadron.It was a move that presented a number of

192/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLDQ R A R E P O R T

Air Commodore Harry Atkinson, StationCommander at RAF Leuchars in Fife, andHead of the RAF in Scotland, is a veteran ofQRA missions.

“It absolutely is a Quick Reaction Alertoperation,” he said. “The air crews are fullydressed in their flight suits and ready to goat a moment’s notice.

“When you get the call, it’s exciting, it’sa moment of reflection, and a moment to be

“Within minutes, they were escorting theplane to Stansted Airport. It later transpiredthe bomb threat was a false alarm”.

In January this year the pilot of an Etihadflight, carrying 163 passengers, sent out aterror alert shortly after entering UK airspace.James Glen had told a flight attendant oneof his fellow passengers had a gun and wasthreatening to blow himself up.

On the same day – January 24th – a sui-cide bomber killed 35 people at the arrivalsterminal of Moscow’s busiest airport. Airtraffic control immediately scrambled RAFfighter jets to intercept the Airbus 340-600.

The dramatic events of January 24th –the details of which came out in a recentcourt case - illustrate how emergency proce-dures, set up after the 9/11 attacks on theUS, and refined in 2007, are fundamental tonational security. QRA is fundamental tothese procedures.

The Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) role in the UK is provided by the Typhoons basedat RAF Coningsby and RAF Leuchars.

It is part of a layered defence of the UKand their role is to get airborne, any time ofday or night, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,to intercept any aircraft, for almost any reason.

It can be anything, from an innocentcivilian aircraft that has had a system fail-ure, to the more publicised 9/11-style rogueairline threats, and everything else in be-tween.

TYPHOON

2/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLD Q R A R E P O R T18

logistical challenges but, after months of in-tensive training preparing for QRA northduties, Typhoon officially took over fullresponsibility from the Tornado F3 fleet inMarch this year.

Air Commodore Harry Atkinson, whowas responsible for overseeing the transi-tion, said: “I think we should warmly em-brace the fact this is very much a team effort.Two years ago, when I was appointed StationCommander of RAF Leuchars, our missionwas to transform it into the northern basefor the Typhoon QRA service. That missionreached its conclusion in March, when theTornado F3s completed QRA for the lasttime. None of that could have been achievedwithout team-work and the help of BAE Sys-tems”.

“This is the start of the future for theRoyal Air Force, as we look to see how wellthe Typhoon can be developed, and to pro-mote its potential capabilities in deliveringthe paramount duty, which is to control theair, over the United Kingdom and our part-ner nations,” added Air Commodore HarryAtkinson.

It’s good to know our skies are protectedwhen the alarm is raised.

QUICK REACTIONALERT

212/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLDA I R D I S P L AY

This air show season will be just like any other. Typhoon display teams from the Austrian Air Force,Italian Air Force and the Royal Air Force will per-

form throughout the summer months to thousands ofaviation enthusiasts across Europe. All will execute awell-rehearsed display of the aircrafts raw power andagility for the spectators, but did you know what goeson behind the scenes to make the display you might see this summer so spectacular? Each routine takes extensive planning and training to be perfect each time,with weeks of preparation and team work. In this editionof Eurofighter World, we finally gain an insight into theprocess behind the incredible Typhoon displays.

The RAF have, with the help of BAE Systems, createda visual work up of their display for 2011. This ”workup” of the routine is represented in a series of ribbon diagrams which are published annually on the RAF Typhoon display team websitehttp://www.raf.mod.uk/typhoondisplay/.

This process takes place with the simulation teambased in Warton in Lancashire where the Typhoonflight simulator can be found. Each RAF Typhoon displaypilot goes through the same process. This year’s pilot isFlt. Lt. Tim (TC) Clement who did such an outstandingjob in 2010 that he was given the honour again in 2011.Tim begins by designing his own routine and thenanalysing it in the simulator. This is a long process andtakes a considerable amount of time before they see thefinished article.

Tim highlighted how the simulator in Warton is inte-gral to the 2011 display. “The use of the simulator is essential because it allows me to go to the edge of theenvelope, checking manoeuvres are feasible and safebefore being in an aircraft. In practical terms, using asimulator prevents the display team from deprivingthose on the front line of a valuable asset”.

Millie Barnes, from the BAE Systems, Military Airand Information Simulation team said: “After Tim hasworked up and finalised his routine, we record informa-tion, in real-time, on the aircraft position and orienta-tion during the simulated flight. The necessary data isthen extracted from the saved file and we use anotherpiece of software to create a series of electronic ribbonsthat visualise what the aircraft is doing at any time dur-ing the flight.

The whole sequence is split up into several sections,each containing three or four individual manoeuvres.This makes it easier to follow the path of the complexdisplay. The images are then used by the RAF displayteam as part of their promotional material at air showsand on the team’s website."

As quoted on the Typhoon display team’s site, it isthe team work that makes the display happen. “Whilstit is the pilot who displays the aircraft, he cannot evenbegin to do his job without the unfaltering commitmentand backing of the dedicated group of professionals thatmake up the Typhoon Display Team”.

2/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLD A I R D I S P L AY20

POWER, AGILITY, SPEED ANDCLIMB RATE FOR THE “FERRARIOF THE SKY”

IN THE AIR

the wearer’s location, making them easierto be found by search parties.

The life preserver is inflated for severalhours to check it is fit for purpose. Thepockets are packed with an array of sur-vival equipment: flares (two types), atorch, a mirror, a first aid kit and muchmore. There’s even a sachet of drinkingwater.

The jacket also includes a little blackbox, the air crew service package, whichconnects all the vital hoses for oxygen andcommunications. It’s small and rather in-nocuous looking but if you wanted to buyone it would set you back £12,000.

Then there are the anti-G trousers. Thepilots can fly up to 9G’s in the Typhoon,which put simply means a pilot will weighthe equivalent of 9 times his normalweight. Let’s put it another way, a manweighing 90kg including the equipmentson the ground would weigh close to a900kg at 9G!

To help their bodies cope with thisforce, pilots are issued with the anti-Gtrousers. There’s a standard issue for stan-dard jets, but then there’s a second set,specifically designed for the Typhoon,known as fagots which kind of stands forfull coverage anti-G trousers. Both typeshave a series of inflatable bladders builtin. During in-flight manoeuvres these auto-matically respond to the jet’s movements

THE PERFECT FITE ver since Tom Cruise strutted his

stuff in Top Gun, it has been a truthuniversally acknowledged in the lads’

mags at least that the primary function ofthe jet fighter’s wardrobe is to make the avi-ator look effortlessly cool. However, it does-n’t take too long in the company of SamStewart, a BAE Systems Survival Equip-ment Fitter, to shatter that little illusion.

“Protection, communication and comfort”.That’s the mantra of Sam and his colleaguesin Flight Operations, where thoughts don’tlinger on what the kit they supply to a pi-lot looks like, but on its ability to help himdo his job and cope if things go wrong.

The gear may look great but if you wereto witness a pilot getting fitted into an anti-Gsuit with enough lace tightening to makeeven Lady Gaga blush you would quicklyrealise it’s a serious bit of kit. There aren’tmany of us who go to work in a suit worthupwards of £40,000 but looking the partreally doesn’t enter the equation, this is allabout function rather than form.

The whole operation of fitting a pair oftrousers is carried out with, as you mightguess, military precision. It has to be. Themargins for error, well, there can’t be anyerrors.

Sam puts all the fastidious primpingand preening, testing and re-testing, intoperspective. “If everything else goes wrongwith the aircraft, our kit has got to work,it’s the only thing the pilot has keepinghim alive.’ The 21-year-old’s primary func-tion is to make sure all the pilots have thekit they need, when they need it.

PCC: PROTECTION, COMMUNICATION,COMFORT.

The kit is designed with those three ele-ments in mind and in that order of prioritytoo. So let’s deal with the notion of comfortfirst. If you’re thinking clothing with a bitof give to accommodate an expandingwaistline think again. Comfort for Sam’steam means that the pilot’s movementsaren’t too restricted. For example, it’s morethan a little useful if the pilot can lift hisleg high enough to step up into the cockpitand, once inside, he may wish to lift hisarms to helmet level. That about covers itfor the comfort side of things.

The jacket is a one-man survival kit. Itscollar incorporates a life preserver whichinflates on contact with water and yes, itcontains a light and a whistle. There’s alsoa little aerial attachment which transmits

The new generation helmet, the purpose made flying suit and the dedicated equipment make sure thatthe Typhoon pilots can do their job in the most efficient and safest way possible.

232/2011 EUROFIGHTER WORLDH E L M E T

Maj. Raffaele “Boff” Beltrame is the 2011Typhoon test pilot for the Italian Air Force.Maj. Beltrame joined the Italian air force in1993, coming from the 6th wing in Ghediwhere he flew tornados and was assigned tothe Italian test centre in 2002.

Graduating as a test pilot from Pax River(USNTPS) - the US navy test pilot school -Maj. Beltrame is currently the Chief of theair-to-air section of the 311th Gruppo(squadron).

As test pilot of the 311 Gruppo of theItalian Reparto Sperimentale di Volo, FlyingTest Center, he has been assigned to the Eurofighter Typhoon programme since2004. In his career to date, he has logged almost 3000 flying hours on 43 differentaircraft and helicopters. Here he gives us aninterview on what it’s like to be given therole of Typhoon display pilot.

Can you tell us how you go about workingout defining the content of the display foreach season?The choice of the pre-determined manoeuvresthat are to be performed during the displaymust meet precise criteria. The main objectiveis to come out with a display that is focused inhighlighting aircraft performance and flyingqualities. That being said, it is probably morecorrect to define it as a technical display flightwhere everything is performed in a specificparametric way. This requires a period oftraining during which the display is build-upfrom paper drawings.

How important is the use of the simulator inyour work up for the display?The use of the simulator is very important fornailing parameters, manoeuvre sequencingand overall geometry of the display. It is alsofundamental to know thoroughly the aircraftand its characteristics to get the most, perfor-mance wise, out of it while trying to make anice figure in the sky.

What are you looking forward to most fromthis year display calendar?We have quite a lot of displays this year andeach one is going to be very important. Re-cently I had the opportunity to perform at”Aero India 2011” and this was a great experi-ence. I’ll be moving around Europe and willget to perform in Italy as well. I’m looking for-ward to it!

From a spectator’s perspective, whatshould they expect from your display thisyear?This year, for the ones who have seen the pastseason displays, there are a few changes thatwere made in order to enhance the overalldisplay geometry. The display will also beslightly longer than the past season. I hopeeveryone will enjoy it.

Talk to us about the Typhoon aircraft.The aircraft is very nice to fly and you definite-ly can appreciate, from the cockpit and from aspectator point of view, its extraordinary per-formance as well as its manoeuvrability. Thisallows me to confine the display to a verysmall area of the sky while keeping a very highenergy state. That is very difficult, in generalfor an aircraft, to achieve unless you haveenough thrust and manoeuvring capability(that a canard-delta wing design can offer,coupled obviously with great engines).

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MAJ. RAFFAELE BELTRAMEITALIAN AIR FORCE TYPHOON DISPLAY PILOT INTERVIEW

and fill up. The effect is to force the pilot’sblood to travel upwards ensuring a goodblood supply to the brain and other vitalorgans

The helmets are next. Again there is thequestion of getting the perfect fit so vari-ous parts, including ear protectors, areadjustable.

“The helmets and visors are remarkablytough. I have seen examples down at RAFHenlow where the helmets have been test-ed in action and have withstood incredibleimpacts. They do a vital job of protectingthe brain and they have to be checkedevery few weeks.” And finally there’s theimmersion suit, which keeps the pilot aliveif he needs to eject over the ocean. It is es-sentially a specially constructed dry suitthat the pilot has to wear over his f lightthermals. They are worn when flying overthe sea during winter months.

“Without the immersion suit you’d lasta couple of minutes. With it you have a lit-tle bit more time,” says Sam, whose jobspec clearly isn’t to make sure the pilotlooks like the next Tom Cruise but to helpkeep him safe.

“The job title says it all, I’m a SurvivalEquipment Fitter.”

“If everything else goes wrong with theaircraft, our kit has got to work, it’s the onlything the pilot has keeping him alive.”

n o t h i n g c o m e s c l o s e

Combat ReadyEurofighter Typhoon: the most advanced new generation multi-role combat aircraft available on the market. With an established

technology insertion programme, the Eurofighter Typhoon has supremacy over all current and evolving threats and is fully interoperable

with NATO and International air forces. ww

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