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DuBAi Air ShoW SPECIAL EDITION

E U R O F I G H T E R PROGRAMME NEWS & FEATURESNOVEMBER 2017

■ EurofightEr for KuWAitThe Kuwait aircraft – The most advanced Eurofighter ever

■ uK DEfENCE MiNiStErhArriEt BALDWiN:Typhoon is world’s most powerful swing-role aircraft

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Eurofighter World is published by Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH PR & CommunicationsAm Söldnermoos 17, 85399 HallbergmoosTel: +49 (0) 811-80 [email protected]

Editorial TeamTheodor BenienMartina SchmidmeirAdam Morrison

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November 2017

Title:RSAF Typhoons in formation

Picture: Jamie Hunter

CONTENTSEurofightEr WorldProgrammE NEWs & fEaturEsNoVEmBEr 2017

EditorialWelcome from Volker Paltzo, CEo of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug gmbh.

Eurofighter for Kuwaitthe Kuwait aircraft – the most advanced Eurofighter ever.

Typhoons Hit the Targetthe spanish air force Eurofighter at red flag.

Eurofighter Typhoon: Ready For Polandindustrial collaboration is an inherent part of the typhoon programme.

UK RAF in Syriatyphoon proves itself in fight against daEsh.

An Air Vice-Marshal’s life with TyphoonNEtma’s general manager, air Vice-marshal graham farnell, retired in July 2017.

Comprehensive Typhoon proposal for BelgiumuK mod has responded to the Belgian request for governmentProposal to replace its 54 f-16 multi-role fighters.

Live firing of Brimstone missile is successfirst live firing of mBda’s Brimstone successfully completed.

Sion Air Show 2017Eurofighter wows in switzerland.

Life SupporttytaN: the support initiative that will have a major impact.

Italian Typhoons in Icelandsix Eurofighter typhoon to iceland in support of Nato's air policing and training mission.

NEWS■ harriet Baldwin, uK defence minister: typhoon is world’s

most powerful and reliable swing-role combat aircraft.■ typhoons on Black sea policing role.■ launching the Eurofighter World hub.

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the biennial dubai air show is always a memorableevent. it’s a magnet for the global aerospace industryand brings a focus on the middle East and its growingsignificance in the aerospace sector.

We have established strong linksin the gulf, with the Kingdom ofsaudi arabia, oman and Kuwaitas proud members of theEurofighter family. You mighthave spotted that the cover ofthis magazine features a photoof the royal saudi air forcetyphoons. it’s a fitting testa-ment to a long-established andhighly respected customer.

last year, we announced thatKuwait had agreed a contract for28 aircraft and in this edition ofEurofightEr World we up-date you on the progress that’sbeen made since. and, ofcourse, earlier this year, the firstEurofighter aircraft was formallypresented to the royal air forceof oman.

in september, we had the good news of a formalstatement of intent between the governments of the uKand Qatar signed in doha on the potential purchase of24 typhoon aircraft for the future military and trainingrequirements of the Qatar armed forces.

through its years in service, Eurofighter typhoon hasdeveloped a strong reputation and a track record of delivering when needed. as a global fleet, the aircrafthave accumulated more than 440,000 flying hours withdeliveries in excess of the 500-mark.

from an operational perspective, 2017 has beenEurofighter’s busiest year yet. it’s seen the active engagement of the royal air force (raf) over iraq andsyria as part of the international activities against

daEsh. during this operation,the raf has flown more than10,000 flying hours in more than900 different missions with animpressive 100 percent missionavailability.

Eurofighters have also been actively involved in several Nato air Policing missions, including in the Baltic states,iceland, Bulgaria and romania.While Eurofighter squadronshave also taken part in major exercises – like the spanish airforce’s typhoon debut at redflag.

Elsewhere in this issue, wespeak to NEtma’s previousgeneral manager graham farnellabout his life with typhoon. i’dlike to take this opportunity tothank him for his contribution to

the programme and to welcome his successor gabrielesalvestroni and wish him all the best during his tenure.

as ever, i hope you enjoy the magazine.

Volker PaltzoCEo

Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug gmbh


“the first rear fuselage section is goingto start the “stage 2” assembly phase atleonardo in early 2018 while the “stage 1”assembly phase is already running in BaEsystems for the first 5 aircraft.

“the center fuselage section, producedby airbus defence & space in germany, willstart the assembly in the first half of 2018having already commenced the “pre-assy”phase according to the plan.

“the uK Eurofighter Partner CompanyBaE systems has begun the assembly ofthe front fuselage sections and today morethan 10 front fuselages are in production at different stages of progress. the firstfront fuselage section is now ready to startthe equipping phase.

“Everything goes on towards the start ofthe final assembly of the first aircraft ontime thanks to the expertise, the effort andthe passion of all teams: EPCs, the Kuwaitintegrated Programme team in Eurofighterand Prime Contractor organisation (PCo)”.

iNfrAStruCturES for KuWAit MoB the activities to establish infrastructures inKuwait to operate the aircraft are also pro-ceeding according to the plans. the detaildesign has already been completed with

the finalization of all data packages. theconstruction activities have started inaugust this year.

LogiStiC SErviCESthe Eurofighter team is also working intensely on the set-up of the logistic ser-vices to be ready for the logistic supportdate a few months before the delivery ofthe first aircraft. spares and groundsupport Equipment are being ordered according to the Eurofighter procurementroute and all logistic functions are workingaccording to the support plan which hasbeen established. all logistic services aretargeted to assure the full operational availability of the fleet during the in-servicephase in Kuwait.

With the Kuwaiti contract leonardo andEurofighter have well initiated a long journeywhich will lead to the delivery of the first aircraft in 2020. “the programme is chal-lenging for the state-of-the art capabilities –says mezzanatto - but on our side there aremotivation and commitment of the teamsthrough all the supply Chain. this, togetherwith the cooperation of the italian air forceand of the Kuwait customer, will be the keyfactor for the Eurofighter success”. <<

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its antenna reposi-tioner.”

the typhoon Captor-Eprovides significantly more power

than most competing systems.Combined with the fighter's large noseaperture and the unique ability to move theradar antenna, the typhoon has a field ofview of 200 degrees and the flight tests are confirmingthe discriminating advan-tages this will bring.

“this new radar, developed and producedby the Euroradar con-sortium, which is led byleonardo, underpins the typhoon’s current and future capabilityevolution.

“as far as the overall package is con-cerned, today we are well into the develop-ment phase. the avionic system designhas been completed and we are currentlydesigning and coding the software”.

ProDuCtioN of thE EurofightErtyPhooN for KuWAitsoon after the contract signature, the production activities have begun in order tocomply with the contract and the Customer

Kuwait’s Eurofighter typhoons will bethe most advanced of the type pro-duced so far, with a package of ca-

pabilities on topof the previousenhancementprogrammes suchas the Captor-E E-scan radar and severalnovelties in the weaponsystem that will make theKuwait air force at the front-lineof the fighter technology when theaircraft will enter into service.

the contract is a complex one and re-quires such capabilities to be delivered intotwo subsequent releases, the first to bepart of the aircraft at its entry into service and the second 24 monthsafter.

giancarlo mezzanatto,Eurofighter Programmeunit Vice Presidentof the leonardoaircraft

division explains:“the capability pack-

ages granted to Kuwait will include the integration of storm shadow

and Brimstone and other air-to-surfaceweapons. these features enrich the multi-role characteristics of the aircraft andenhance the weapon system in a role in

which the aircraft is excelling since 2011with the operations over libya and nowsyria and iraq.

“moreover this configuration foreseesthe integration of a new advanced laserdesignator pod (the lockheed martinsniper) that will expand Eurofighter portfolioof cleared laser designator pods, the intro-duction of the drs-Cubic aCmi P5 combattraining pod, an enhanced navigation aid(Vor) and the E-scan radar CaPtor with

EurofightEr for KuWAit

expectations. long lead time items pro-curement has been immediately activatedand the supply Chain has been mobilized.

“since the second half of 2016 the production activities started with detailsmanufacturing – says mezzanatto - theseactivities are in line with the baseline planand in some cases even ahead of schedule.

“the first left hand wing at leonardo andright hand wing at airbus defence & spacein spain have already completed the manu-facturing of the wing skins in compositematerials and are going to start the assem-bly phase before the end of this year. >>

the Kuwait aircraft – the most advancedEurofighter ever

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“this new radar underpins the typhoon’s current and future capability evolution”

thE KuWait CoNtraCt

On 5th of April 2016 a contract between theMinistry of Defence of the State of Kuwait andthe Leonardo Aircraft Division (acting as PrimeContractor Organisation) was signed to supply28 Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role fighter air-craft. The delivery of the aircraft will start in2020 and will be completed in 2023 makingKuwait the aircraft’s eight customer.

The agreement with the Kuwait MoD also in-cludes services to operate the Eurofighter fleetat its best such as the design and constructionof the infrastructures at the Al-Salem Air Baseand the initial support services for three years(with an option for a further five).

This includes the supply of equipment and asuite of training devices to establish a pilotOperational Conversion Unit in Kuwait.

The contract came a few months after the signature of a Memorandum of Understandingbetween the Kuwait MoD and the Italian MoD. This memorandum between the two govern-ments not only defines the scope of the coop-eration between the two countries on theTyphoon project, including training of pilotsand ground crew of the Kuwait Air Force, butalso establishes the G2G framework of thecontract.

As part of this agreement a Joint InternationalProgram Office (JIPO) has been established inRome where Italian and Kuwaiti officers areworking together to manage the contract fromthe customer perspective.

Immediately after the contract signature, teamswere mobilised in Leonardo, as PrimeContractor Organization, in Eurofighter and inthe other Partner Companies and all the supplychain has been activated.

In particular a multi-national Integrated ProductTeam has been established at the EurofighterGmbH facilities with all disciplines co-locatedand working together to manage and carry outthe development and production activities ofthe contract involving all the EurofighterPartner Companies. This integrated approachand the passion and commitment of the team iscrucial for the success of the programme.

Above: Kuwait front fuselages in assembly at BAE Systems, United KingdomBelow: Eurofighter and Leonardo Kuwait Team

Giancarlo Mezzanatto, Eurofighter Programme UnitVice President of the Leonardo Aircraft Division


maintenance crew and aircraft from 11th fW and 14th fW – were under the commandof group Commander lieutenant Colonel(of-4) Enrique fernández ambel from the11th fW.

in pure number terms the spanish unit’sefforts were impressive – it dropped themost live ordnance of any of the partici-pants of this particular red flag and did sounder real pressure. maj Barranco says:“We dropped a total of 48 gBu-16s, whichwas a decent number for two weeks of flying. in fact, we were the only unit drop-ping live weapons (others were using inert weapons).

“it was a very congested environmentwhere we were constantly facing a lot ofair-to-air and surface-to-air threats. in thesorties you were in a sort of ‘funnel’ and by the time you dropped your bomb therewere aggressor aircraft coming toward you.But, despite that, most of the sorties weflew were right over the bullseye.”

Captain (of-2) Joaquín ducay, whohelped plan the unit’s tactical approach tored flag, says: “the overall picture was impressive. our standard was a little bithigher than conventional aircraft, we sur-vived through most of the bombing sortiesand we had a high air-to-air kill ratio. i can’tsay the exact numbers but, for example, i know that on one of my missions therewere a total of 32 kills and my wingman andi had 12 of them between us.

“But the main objective was not aboutscoring a high kill ratio – it was to carry outmulti-role missions. of course, we were involved in air-to-air activity too – but that’swhat we do, day in, day out.

“it was good to see that on missionswhen we were flying with bombs we werestill capable of reacting to air-to-ground

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last year the 11th fighter Wing (fW) atmorón air Base, near seville, becamethe first spanish air force unit to inte-

grate new capabilities offered by the P1Ebsoftware enhancement and litening iii laserdesignator Pod. P1Eb is predominantly anair-to-ground capability upgrade and provides enhancements to the litening Podwith integration to the pilot’s helmetEquipment assembly.

hence the spanish air force’s focus forthe intense two-week multi-force exerciseat Nellis air force Base in the united stateswas clear from the outset. give the aircraft,pilots, ground crew, P1Eb and litening iii, a

thorough workoutin some of themost testing, con-gested air spacethere is, wherethe workload andintensity nevereases off.

111 sQN leader major Victor manuelBarranco ferrer puts it in very clear terms:“one of the principle objectives at red flag(rf 17-2 which ran between feb 27 andmarch 11) was to show our capabilities fol-lowing the integration of P1Eb and liteningiii. it wasn’t really about air superiority – wehave already demonstrated that during ourBaltic air Policing role – but we wanted todemonstrate our multi-role capability.”

the 11th fighter Wing led and formedthe core of a spanish air Expeditionary unit,which was composed of six typhoons and119 people from 11th fighter Wing out ofmorón air Base. a further two typhoonswere drawn from 14th fighter Wing inalbacete, along with two C-130 from 31stairlift/aar WiNg and staff from spanish air Combat Command. the unit – pilots,

When the spanish air force made their Eurofighterdebut at red flag this year they went with a clear aim in mind – putting their typhoons’ new air-to-ground capabilities to the test. >>

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tYPhooNshit thE tArgEt

threats, and make air-to-air kills at thesame time. that’s not something everyoneis able to do. But that’s really thanks to ourtraining and the aircraft. the Eurofighter allows you to multi-task like crazy.”

maj Barranco says the unit achieved ev-erything they’d set out to during the us airforce-hosted event: “in every single re-spect it was a very successful deploymentbecause we were able to accomplish nearlyall the scheduled tactical sorties (119) aswell as 26 fam flights. in terms of reliabilitythe typhoon’s rate of operation was veryhigh, just like it was during our Baltic airPolicing mission in 2015, and that’s thanksto the efforts made by the maintenanceteam during the exercise and in the prepa-ration of the fleet pre-deployment.”

the Verdict on P1Eb. given the missionfocus, the two weeks of day and night mis-sions represented a vigorous test for theP1Eb software and litening Pod. how welldid it perform?

“there’s no doubt it marks a significantuplift in capability for us. While we couldhave deployedoverseas for a realbombing missioneven before P1Ebwe would havehad limited capacity – now there are no lim-itations,” says maj Barranco.

“red flag was the best possible test forP1Eb. We knew what the aircraft was capa-ble of before we went because all the pilotswho went to red flag had trained on thenew software ahead of the deployment. Butthis was the ideal test – a high threat sce-nario, with air and ground aggressors. ofcourse, it was very demanding for both pilots and the technicians to get ready forcombat, reaching a high degree of prepara-tion, but the effort was worthwhile. We areproud of the results we achieved and happywith new capabilities.”

Capt ducay says the P1Eb enhancementis transformative. “it’s like flying a wholedifferent aircraft. air-to-air-wise there are anumber of small improvements that allowyou to find information quicker. this in turngives you more reaction time and thatmeans you can move on to another taskquickly.

“But it’s in air-to-ground operations thatit enters a whole new level of sophistica-tion. there is a great deal of logic behind itand it’s now much more intuitive for the pilot. in previous software configurationsair-to-ground took quite a while to get usedto. once you pick up the P1Eb software forair-to-ground work you can’t go back.”

the link 16 was another piece of the jigsaw that contributed to the spanishtyphoon’s success in Nevada.

Capt ducay says: “With the data ex-change link 16 we were able to see

“red flag was the best possible test for P1Eb.”

“one of the principle objectives at red flag

was to show our capabilities.”

111 sQN leader major Victormanuel Barranco ferrer

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everyone all of the time. there is a huge dif-ference between looking down into thescreen and seeing the track of your Number2 then figuring out where he is, compared tohaving a circle on your helmet mounted

display which tells you exactly where he is.that’s what the new link 16 was able to bring.

“it was consistently good. Every day thetracks worked, we got our messages, every-thing was perfectly correlated, as it shouldbe at all levels. it all worked perfectly.”

uNSuNg hEroESfast jet exercises don’t come much biggerthan red flag. the setting, the Nevada testand training range is, as the natives mightput it, ‘awesome’. the base boasts moresquadrons than any other in the us. it covers over 11,000 acres, and pilots have atraining range with around 15,000 squaremiles of airspace to get to grips with. redflag features up to 80 aircraft taking to theskies in wave after wave.

for their first visit to Nellis with theirtyphoon aircraft the spanish air force leftabsolutely nothing to chance. maj Barrancosays: “from a flying, logistics and mainte-nance perspective, the whole deployment

was epic. at Nellis we sometimeshad all eight of our aircraft flyingat the same time. Being able to recover the aircraft and have themall available to fly in the next wave(just a few hours later) without abreak that was, well … pretty inter-esting. in fact, on some days withour eight aircraft we were able tocomplete our planned missionsand carry out extra flights.”

the detailed planning for theoperation commenced threemonths before the trans-atlantictrip.

“first, we had to select the right aircraftfrom our fleet – taking those that did nothave any major planned maintenance sched-uled because we wanted to minimise the riskof maintenance events during the deploy-ment,” explains lieutenant (of-1) JesúsJiménez ruiz who heads up the mainte-nance. “We had almost 100 percent reliabilitythroughout the entire exercise. all the air-craft were full mission capable each day and we were the only group in red flag thatoperated as either full mission capable orpartial mission capable. that was onlyachieved because we prepared for the deployment. We had the right aircraft andthe right equipment.”

indeed it was planning and preparation on a heroic scale. the unit took 90 tonnes of

equipment, 51 containers and more than 150people. “We had 131 maintenance people –engineers, people working at workshops andpeople working on the flight line. it was ahuge deployment for us – the biggest for thespanish air force – and it worked.”

SituAtioNAL AWArENESS “red flag is a high workload environmentbut fortunately this aircraft is really easy tofly,” says Capt ducay. “But what the pilotneeds to do is learn how to process all the information that comes at you. it’s reallyabout learning to exploit all the potential the aircraft has and when you become proficient you make far better, more tacticaldecisions.

“When every single system of the aircraftis working – the litening pod, the mids, the radar, and flare – the Eurofighter givesyou so much situational awareness. itshows you everything that’s going on in thebattle space and that means you can makeway better decisions. of course it requires a lot of training before you can master all that.

“seeing exactly what is going on, andtaking decisions based on what is actuallyhappening, is especially useful if you haveto execute something that’s not planned.the aircraft allows you to be flexible andthat’s all because of the systems and thetechnology.

“at red flag there’s a degree of informa-tion saturation initially because of the highdensity airspace compared to what we areused to but that’s part of the point of goingthere. You very quickly get used to it.” <<

>> tyPhooNS hit thE tArgEt

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EurofightEr tYPhooN: rEADy for PoLAND

the Eurofighter consortium believesthat Poland should consider theEurofighter typhoon as it looks at its

future combat aircraft requirements.“Eurofighter typhoon augments existing

capabilities and further complements apowerful deterrence against any potentialthreat to Poland’s borders,” raffaelKlaschka, head of marketing at Eurofightergmbh said at msPo defence exhibition inPoland.

“Joining the Eurofighter programmewould bring new and additional opportunities

to Poland – both from a militaryand economic perspective, with anumber of possible options inscope, from assembly and manufacturing tosupport and maintenance. and, of course,Poland would play a role in the definition ofany future development of the aircraft,which will continue to be in service well be-yond 2050.”

the Eurofighter consortium is made upof Europe’s three main defence andaerospace companies: airbus defence &space, leonardo and BaE systems, head-

quartered in germany, italy and the uK re-spectively. the consortium already sup-ports thousands of jobs around Europe, in-cluding 4,000 direct jobs in Poland.

raffael Klaschka added: “industrial col-laboration is an inherent part of thetyphoon programme. We believe we candeliver an attractive and cost-effective solution for Poland.” <<

“industrial collaboration is an inherentpart of the typhoon programme.“

Members of the 11th Fighter Wing who participated in the 2017 Red Flag deployment

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Eurofighter typhoon has proved itself at the heart ofthe international coalition fighting against DAESh.it has been very active in syria, in particular in theisis heartland of raqqa, where its use of thePaveway iv gPs precision-guided munitiontogether with its advanced sensors have enabledtyphoon to be considered almost the platform ofchoice for operations against the targets aroundraqqa.

rELiABLEThe aircraft has managed 100% missionsupport rate proving its reliability and utili-ty. Not one mission missed for technical reasons.

tyPhooN ProvES itSELf iN fightagaiNst daEsh rAPiD DEPLoyMENt

Within 24 hours of the decision to deployTyphoon, aircraft were striking targets inSyria.

vErSAtiLEA post-Operational report showed thatTyphoon had employed Paveway IV effectively in all of its modes, includingGPS, Laser, Desired impact angle or azimuth.

fLExiBLEEurofighter’s flexibility with Paveway IV,when combined with the weapon effects,has led to an increased demand fromacross the Operation SHADER Area ofOperations with Coalition Joint TerminalAttack Controllers specifically asking forTyphoon support.

fuLLy LoADEDThe Typhoon’s weapons load has made itinvaluable. The aircraft can operate withfour Paveway IVs without any detrimentalimpact on its Air to Air capability – other aircraft in the Coalition forces usually carryjust two. It’s able to strike four targets simultaneously, providing greater flexibilityand opportunity for the controller on theground.

DAiLy SuPPortThe aircraft has flown in excess of 900 missions over Iraq and Syria sinceDecember 2015, providing daily support tointernational coalition forces on the RAF’sOperation SHADER.

fuLLy ACtivEEach mission consists of a pair ofTyphoons. The operational activity equatesto over 10,000 flying hours, during whichthe aircraft has delivered more than 850Paveway IV weapons.


on a fine sunday morning about 12years ago, graham farnell waspropped up in bed with a laptop in

one hand and cup of tea in the other. hiswife had given up asking him when he wasgetting up – by now he was on his fifth cupand he was utterly absorbed on the task inhand, devising the typhoon 30-hourChallenge, an initiative designed to improvethe availability of the royal air force’s thenfledgling fleet.

“at that time there were 19 aircraft atraf Coningsby but aircraft availability waspoor due to a paucity of spares and testequipment, as well as technicians and pilotslearning how to operate the weapons sys-tem. all of which meant the average flyinghours for an aircraft were in the region of 12per month and that’s not a good return.

the rule of thumb for a combat aircraft isyou need about 25 hours per month.”

he was wrestling with the problem whenhe hit upon the idea of the 30-hourChallenge – 30 hours being a stretch target.that sunday morning graham came up witha graph highlighting a series of initiativesthat would improve availability levels.

“there was a variety of about 30 or sodifferent initiatives and each was allocatedhalf an hour or an hour in terms of whatwould it give the programme.

“one of the very first was using motor-cycle couriers to transport the data busanalysers from the production line of BaEsystems at Warton down the motorway, so we could fix the aeroplanes.

“these would then be transported backagain to the production line for the next

day. it was expensive,but not as expensiveas having the assetsjust sat there with pi-lots unable to fly them.

“it was an excellent collaborative part-nership with BaE systems.”

at the time, air Vice-marshal farnell wasa group Captain and his role was uKProject Engineer and Procurement systemsmanager within the defence Procurementagency.

“that job was the most difficult one ihave ever done. it consumed every hour ofmy life,” he recalls in deadly earnest, hencethe sunday shift. “i had 275 people report-ing to me and everybody was constantlyqueueing for my time. finding any sparetime was almost impossible which is why >>

13N E T M A2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD

SUNDAy SERVICE:

aN air ViCE-marshal’s lifE With tyPhooNNEtma’s outgoing general manager, air Vice-marshal GrahamFarnell, retired in July 2017 after a long and distinguished

career that has helped shape the trajectory of the Eurofighter typhoon programme.here he recalls some of the key moments in the aircraft’s development >>

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“it was an excellentcollaborative partnership withBaE systems.”

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The first Eurofighter Typhoon of the Royal Air Force of Oman. © RAFO

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oversight for the international programme.in february 2014 he was appointed as

general manager of NEtma – a role thathas allowed him to draw on his wealth oftyphoon experience.

however, despite an air force career thathad been so heavily involved in the aircraft,he had never actually flown the jet. untilnow...

group Captain mike Baulkwill, the cur-rent station Commander at royal air forceConingsby, had previously invited him to flywith him and so, with retirement looming onthe horizon, he took up the offer.

“during my career, i have flown thehawk andtornado butnever got theopportunity tofly in atyphoon so iwas delightedto get thechance. in

fact, my flight took place the day before mycelebratory retirement lunch. We took offaround 5.30 pm on what was a really claggyday with low cloud that almost felt like fog,and we decided to operate over the Wash,just off East anglia. the first thing we didwas a performance take-off. When a veryexperienced pilot does a performance take-off in a typhoon, they end up with thebiggest smile in the world every time.”

“i knew how that felt for the newcomerbecause i once spoke to the Kuwaiti test pilot who flew out of Warton. i’ll never forget what he said to me: ‘it’s the bestcombat aircraft in the world. the perfor-mance take-off… you feel as though youwould go to heaven.’ those words cameback to me that evening. the aircraft doesn’t stop, you don’t feel any type of resistance, it just keeps pushing.”

“after that we carried out a series ofloops, then we stalled it on purpose to seethe full and free movement and recovery asthe aeroplane takes control. then we didsome supersonic runs and then barrel rolls.We hit two air-to-air targets, and a furthernine on the ground. finally, we descendedand did some ocean work. it was incrediblyimpressive. the precision of the aircraft inresponding to all the environmental inputsis truly amazing.”

“it was nice for me to see some of theideas that were developed during thoseearlier whiteboard discussions in Wartonare now actually in place in the cockpit. forexample, the way the air-to-ground pack-age and the dass display presents itselfwas very much devised in those early days.seeing those changes operating in the realenvironment was very satisfying. today, ifeel really privileged and passionate about

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>> SuNDAy SErviCE

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how operationally capable the aircraft is.”from chocks to chocks, the flight lasted

about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Back down toearth air Vice-marshal farnell can’t stoppurring about the experience – it managedto top all his expectations. “i loved it…it’sjust an unbelievable aircraft. the thing thatwas so amazing to me was that i knew allabout its capabilities, but i’d saved myselfto enjoy them until the end of my militarycareer. it’s an amazing aircraft, absolutelyamazing.”

“the engines are incredibly powerful.they are now returning 1,100 hours on av-erage on the wing – the average in thecombat air world is 250 hours. from a war-fighting point of view, having such reliable

and incredibly powerful engines is crucial.the speed with which you approach the enemy is a key factor in who has advan-tage, so the typhoon’s engines give you anincredible competitive edge.”

“that raw power combined with the pre-cision of the flight control system is a pilot’sdream. the difference from flying hundredsof miles an hour to an unbelievable acceler-ation was just incredible. You feel the pow-er and this gives you such confidence thatyou can move around the sky. it’s absolutefreedom and when i landed i had thattyphoon smile.”

Back in germany, air Vice-marshalfarnell highlights that the success of theweapon system has only been possible as a result of the collaboration between thePartner Nations, with particular fond memo-ries of the very heart of the collaborativeendeavour at NEtma. he and his fellowdirectors have together led a dedicatedteam that focuses on delivering what is de-scribed in NEtma’s mission statement: “enhancing and sustaining an affordableEurofighter and tornado capability.”

as he looks back on his career with theaircraft, air Vice-marshal farnell can do so with a certain amount of pride and thatsmile is certain to return. No doubt, airVice-marshal farnell has certainly playedhis part. <<

things that brought the capability of thisaircraft forward. four hours later, at the endof that first meeting, all the whiteboards inthe room were full and that became thedrops Programme. that was in 2006 andit’s still going today.

“the beauty of the drops Programme isthat the joint operator and BaE systemsteam would develop the art of the possi-ble, the operational Evaluation unit wouldfly a software patch in its immaturity, provide feedback, then the next patch wasdeveloped by the joint team and so on until we had an outcome that was fit forthe warfighter – it’s what’s called spiraldevelopment.”

“all the en-gineers in theroom that daywere on cloudnine becauseit’s what theylove doing. theimportant thingis that it was all about a collaborative andtrusted relationship which meant we couldwork together. Bob smith could have toldme that he had enough on his plate, be-cause he had, but it was something peoplewanted to get involved in because it feltvery fast, progressive and it gives that human reward return that you need fromthe work.”

“i have always worked well in rooms withwhiteboards with gangs of people creatingwhat i call a ‘coalition of the willing’ - peo-ple who want to achieve something that’s

fun and creative and that will makea difference. When you get a

good idea underway youfeed off each other.”

a couple of years later, aVm farnell waspromoted and left the typhoon programme,but not long after that he was appointeddirector general typhoon where he negoti-ated the outcome for the latest advancedtranche 3 aircraft. then, following a stint asf-35 team leader he was further promotedand became director of Combat air, whichonce again brought typhoon into his remitand he carried out that role for two years.he was then appointed Chairman of theJoint steering Committee, where he had

“all the engineers in the room that day were on cloud nine because it’swhat they love doing.”

than the ministry of defence, we had all ofthese people wanting everything yesterday.the drops Programme represented smallfocused capability changes” says air Vice-marshal farnell.

“i was the guy everyone was turning toand saying, ‘Now we want theaircraft to do this or that.’ so idecided to team up with BaEsystems in a more collabora-tive fashion. first port of callwas to see Bob smith, the thenBaE systems Chief Engineer atWarton, to see how we couldadvance the progress of theweapons system.”

“Bob brought his wholeteam together, though at first

they were all wondering what we were go-ing to do. then we started white-boardingand people were getting excited. Everyonewas at the board and you couldn’t get thepens off people.

“Everyone was eager because there’snothing better than getting on with the

get with the aircraft, how long would it takeand whether the organisation at rafConingsby would be fit for purpose.”

his next tour was as the Chief Engineerat Coningsby. so, by the time he becamesystems manager and Project Engineer, heknew the aircraft and the impli-cations for all aspects of mili-tary planning very well. thatrole meant he held the powerof the pen to clear the aircraftfor flight and all of the varia-tions to it. it was a job that re-quired someone with attentionto detail and who had a goodcollaborative network.

“those qualities allowed usto ensure the 30-hourChallenge was a success and helped uscreate capacity in the programme to devel-op and implement the drops Programme.drops came about because the uK is a veryimpatient nation, the ministry of defence ismore impatient than the nation itself andthe royal air force is even more impatient

we ended up most evenings working on thewhiteboards because the day was just ab-solutely manic.”

Within a few months, the Challenge waspaying dividends. aircraft were flying on av-erage 27 hours per jet. and after 18 monthssome were even returning 30-40 hours. “atthat point, we had to cut back because wehadn’t budgeted for that number of hours!”

air Vice-marshal farnell’s links withtyphoon actually date back to the turn ofthe century when he was a WingCommander working for the then airCommodore steve dalton (who went on tobecome Chief of the air staff) in the royalair force headquarters. the royal air forcewas just starting to formulate how it wasgoing to get typhoon into service.

“You could say i was there at typhoon’sentry into the royal air force, both from aplanning point of view and then preparingthe first base as well. i was involved in theshaping and organising – how we were going to train pilots and engineers, whenwould we get the aircraft, what would we

“i decided toteam up withBaE systems in a more collaborativefashion.”

the first live firing of mBda’sBrimstone air-to-surfacemissile from a Eurofighter

typhoon was successfully complet-ed earlier this year as part of ongoingdevelopment work to significantly upgrade the capability of the aircraft.

the trial waspart of work to inte-grate the Phase 3Enhancement (P3E)package fortyphoon, which willalso deliver furthersensor and missionsystem upgrades.

the uK’s iPa (instrumented Productionaircraft) 6 typhoon conducted the firing. it

was designed to testthe separation of thelow-collateral, high-precision Brimstoneweapon when it isreleased. in total,nine firings have taken place to ex-

pand the launch and range capabilities.the initial firing followed completion of a

series of around 40 flight trialsearlier this year, some of themconducted alongside pilots

from the royal air force’s41(r) squadron - the test

and Evaluation

squadron - in a Combined test team ap-proach.

the successful trial follows completionearlier this year of the flight trials pro-gramme for the mBda storm shadow deepstrike air-to-surface weapon and the mBdameteor ‘beyond visual range’ air-to-air missile. operational testing and evaluationof those capabilities is currently ongoingwith the royal air force ahead of entry into service in 2018. <<

liVE firiNg ofBriMStoNE MiSSiLEis suCCEss

2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD 19E U R O F I G H T E R2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD

extend to 2058 would deliver both the low-est total cost of ownership and guaranteedcapability.

industrially, BaE systems and theEurofighter Partner Companies would lookto offer Belgium long-term and sustainableopportunities, building on the country's existing defence and aerospace capabilities.

the Eurofighter consortium currentlycontributes around €600m annually to theBelgium economy supporting more than200 Belgian companies.

"Belgium is a country with which the uKhas collaborated closely on defence, and

the offer represents the most com-prehensive international equipmentpartnership ever offered by a

Eurofighter typhoon partner nation. it willsupport Belgium’s aspirations for a strongEuropean defence and technology industrialbase in which Belgian industry plays a part.

it includes a comprehensive typhoonproposal underpinnedby a long-term de-fence and securitypartnership betweenthe united Kingdomand Belgium. thetyphoon is being of-fered in full partner-ship with the royalair force, including integration with theuK’s proven, world-leading availability andsupport service.

the uK minister for defenceProcurement harriett Baldwin said: "i com-mend Belgium for what is a comprehensiveand well-executed competi-tive process. the uK, sup-ported by spain, italy andgermany, has offeredBelgium a government togovernment strategicPartnership, including a long-termrelationship with the royal air force."

a core element of the pro-posal is the offer of aunique and compre-hensive partnershipbetween theBelgian air

Component (BaC) andthe raf, building on 70 years of history

and collaboration between the two airforces. this partnership which would

18 E U R O F I G H T E R

indeed particularly on air defence , for morethan 70 years. along with germany, spainand italy we hope to welcome Belgium to beour next European partner. that wouldmean Belgium joining Europe’s largest col-laborative defence programme, furtherstrengthening the security of Europe andour Nato allies,” said the uK ambassadorto Belgium, alison rose.

"to put it simply, we believe our securityand defence proposal to Belgium, through

Eurofighter typhoon, is the most completesolution to meet Belgium’s aCCaP require-ment. our offer is a combination of out-standing, proven aircraft capability,

through-life cost, with the lowest operating cost per hour of planesin its class, and industrial oppor-tunities, all underpinned by the

strengthening of political, security and in-dustrial relationships with the uK, but

also other European partners –germany, italy and spain."

airCommodore ian

duguid, the uKtyphoon force

Commander, says theproposed partnership be-

tween the raf and BaC, will in-clude joint exercises, squadron ex-

change, shared airspace, working "side byside" on pilot and ground crew training andbringing Belgium into the uK's tytaN sup-port construct.

Eurofighter represents a truly Europeansolution; with typhoon forming backbone ofEuropean Nato air power with more than500 aircraft across Europe

industrially, the offer would seek to es-tablish two national development centres –one in the Wallonia region and one inflanders – and provide the infrastructure,technology and training to accommodate aBelgian National Network Cyber Centre. <<

sioN air shoW 2017EurofightEr WoWS iN SWitzErLAND

the Breitling sion air show is thelargest airshow in switzerland. setagainst the impressive mountainous

backdrop of the Wallis alps, the flying displays were an extraordinary experiencefor all visitors and aviation enthusiasts.

Eurofighter Partner Company, airbusdefence & space presented the aircraft

to more than 50,000 spectators both in theflying display as well as with the full scalereplica on the ground. switzerland has decided to replace its current fleet of f/a-18 and f-5 aircraft. the country willnow consider a single-type fleet of up to 70 new combat aircraft. a call for tender isassumed to start in 2018 by defining theselection process.

the sion air show 2017 therefore wasan excellent opportunity to showcase

Eurofighter typhoon in the most impressiveway and to underline airbus’ interest to participate in the suisse tender.

Eurofighter Chief test pilot geriKrähenbühl from airbus proved to be afavourite of the visitors, not just because of his swiss background but mainly be-cause of the breathtaking flying display heperformed in the Eurofighter.

"it was fantastic to see the huge interestof the visitors", said alexander long-Vinh,airbus Campaign director for switzerland.“We made ideal use of the biggest event ofits kind in switzerland and had a great opportunity to showcase our aircraft." <<

Photo by: HG Schröder

the uK mod, on behalf of the governments of uK, spain, italy andgermany, with BaE systems on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, has responded to the Belgian request for government Proposal to replace its 54 f-16 multi-role fighters. >>

ComPrEhENsiVE EUROFIGHTERtyPhooN ProPoSAL for BElgium:thE EuroPEaN solutioN

this partnership which would extend to2058 would deliver both the lowest totalcost of ownership and guaranteed capability

support for the Eurofighter fleet covers arange of activity which is all designed to ensure the typhoon continues to meet its operational requirements. support looks at ensuring engineering capability remains world beating and also covers things like repairs and the provision of spares.

like the aircraft itself, the way the fleet is supported continues to evolve.here we look at a support initiative between the uK royal air force and uK industry that will have a major impact: tytaN.

2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD 21E U R O F I G H T E R2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD20 E U R O F I G H T E R

TyTAN:■ TyTAN stands for Typhoon Total Availability eNterprise (TyTAN) and it’s a partnership between BAE Systems and the Royal Air Force to provide support to the UK Typhoon fleet.

■ Launched in August 2016, it’s a unique 10-year agreement.

■ TyTAN looks at new ways of working to further reduce the costs of operating the fleet at RAF Conningsby and RAF Lossiemouth by more than a third.

■ An estimated £500m of savings will be reinvested to develop new capability enhancements for the aircraft.

■ TyTAN includes a joint avionics solution with Eurofighter Partner Company Leonardo.

lifE SuPPort

Available A�ordable

Capable

ImproveDataIntegrity

Improvingthe quality and reliabilityof approveda/c data

SmarterEngineering

Improving training andsupport, !xingcapability andadvancing diagnostics

Fly the Plan

Balancing the"eet plan tofocus onachievementof the "yingtask

SupplySolution

Optimisingthe SupplySolution to amore robustand e�ectiveservice

IncreaseLocalDecision-making

Empoweringindustry throughdelegation ofprivileges

Manage forTyTAN

Optimising ourorganisationsfor e#cient managementof the programme

Operating as One Enterprise

Mission Success Mission Success

Transforming the Enterprise

TyTAN Service

Increasing Capability

Reduced cost per Flying Hour

© BAE Systems


NAto PoLiCiNg iN iCELANDas iceland does not maintain an air force,the country was left without means to patrolits airspace when the united states airforce (usaf) ceased deploying fighter unitsto Keflavik air Base in september 2006, andthe us iceland defense force was with-drawn.

after the american withdrawal fromiceland the airspace was not manned andseveral incursions were observed in the following years.

icelandic air Policing is a Natooperation conducted to patroliceland's airspace.

during the riga summit inNovember 2006 Prime minister geirhaarde in 2006 requested that itsNato allies periodically deployfighter aircraft to Keflavik air Baseto provide protection of itsairspace. the North atlanticCouncil agreed to this request at its July2007 meeting. the other Nato memberstates who lack the ability to patrol theirown airspace have similar arrangements inplace. the first deployment of aircraft tookplace in may 2008.

as of January 2013, Nato had re-desig-nated the deployments to iceland as beingthe "airborne surveillance and interceptionCapabilities to meet iceland's PeacetimePreparedness Needs" mission. the empha-sis was on training rather than air policing.

since 2014 the aircraft deployed toiceland have been placed on Quickreaction alert status and flown armed pa-trols.

in contrast with the Baltic air Policingmission, which involves the continuous rotation of fighter aircraft from NatoCountries at Šiauliai international airport inlithuania and Ämari air Base in Estonia, theicelandic government requested three deployments, with each lasting from two tothree weeks.

tASK forCE iCE the italian air force was in charge of thefirst Nato rotation of 2017, under the nameof tasK forCE air NorthErN iCE.

Between march 17th and april 14th italy deployed six of its Eurofighter typhoonsfighter aircraft – two typhoon from eachwing (4th, 36th and 37th) and a detachmentof approximately 140 personnel to iceland.

this was the second time since 2013 thatthe italian air force executed this mission iniceland. the deployment underlines Nato’sresolve, commitment and solidarity as wellas allied interoperability and cohesion.

“Preparation for the mission startedsome months prior to the deployment,” explained Col. Emanuele spigolon – itaftfa 'Northern ice' detachment Commander.

“as soon as our presence at the high mil-itary strategic level was confirmed, we start-ed thinking about a tactical survey, and infebruary we took a team of 15 to iceland,each one for their own area of expertise toanalyze what the host nation could provideus and what we would have to bring with us from italy.”

this was a fundamental piece of thepreparation explained Col. spigolon.

“the tactical survey helped us under-stand the size of our logistic needs to sup-port our activity here in iceland.

“all the training and real operations arehighly standardized and we have a lot ofexperience, therefore we know how manyspares we would need per flying hour; soeverything was well-defined and well stud-ied long before we left italy.”

the six typhoons arrived in Keflavik onthursday march 17th after a six-hour flightfrom grosseto air Base that involved threeair-to-air refuellings. the typhoons weresupported by two KC-767 and a C-130, thelast one acting as a 'sweeper' just in casefor technical reasons one of the aircraft hadto land at an alternative airport.

one week before the aircraft arrived inKeflavik an advance team of about 50 peo-ple arrived in iceland in order to prepare ev-erything for the arrival of the jets. at thesame time the advanced team preparedthe communications systems and set up aforce Protection team - italian air force16th force Protection Wing - who guaran-tee protection of italian air force installa-tions and operations in italy and abroad.

With the typhoons, pilots, officers, spe-cialists, logistics and operational personnel

23A I R P O L I C I N G2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD

italiaN tYPhooNs iN iCELAND

in march this year the italian air force deployed sixEurofighter typhoon combat aircraft to iceland in support of Nato's air policing and training mission. >>

22 A I R P O L I C I N G

Words and photos by Giovanni Colla andRemo Guidi

“the tactical survey helped us understand the size of our logisticneeds to support our activity here in iceland.”


complex scenarios day by day,” said Col.spigolon.

“as iceland is the crossroads of planesthat go to the united states there weresome areas of air space reserved for us tooperate but each time we asked for permis-sion to fly higher it was granted.

“the air space we were granted wasgreat. there were some limitations regard-ing the lowest altitude we could fly becauseusually in iceland the minimum low speed is250 knots. We had a special permissionthat allowed us to fly at 450 knots at low

altitude andbelow 10,000 feet.

“there were large areasover the sea that were supersonic, and

over the ground too but we use commonsense – like we do in italy – and tried toavoid going supersonic where it’s not nec-essary and therefore minimizing the impacton the local population.

“in iceland they’re not use to seeing military airplanes every day, so if people hearthe engines or a sonic-boom they begin tocall asking what's going on. By keeping with-in the rules, we were able to get the mostout of the training simply by restricting supersonic flight to area above the sea.”

throughout deployment typhoon’savailability was at high level, thanks to thework of the maintenance team formed bymen and women coming from 4th Wing ofgrosseto, 36th Wing of gioia del Colle, 37th Wing of trapani plus an attachmentfrom the rmV of Cameri.

the maintenance team Commandersaid: “We worked in a small team – just likethe maintenance teams in italy – and pro-vided a first full level of maintenance and incase of need also a second level of mainte-nance. We carried the spare parts that statistically we knew we might need but also we carried out preventive maintenancebefore travelling to iceland.”

Climatic conditions never interfered withmaintenance and the team, who werestaffed by a mix of the three wings, workedwell together.

WEAthEr WiNDoWWhile the climate didn't interfere with themaintenance the weather conditions were afactor on the training flight activity.

“We knew what to expect. obviouslythere were missions that were cancelledbecause of the weather, or the sea condi-tions, but in most cases we had alternateinternal areas where we could fly. so whenthe sea conditions were very bad werescheduled the mission to fly inland,” ex-plained Col. spigolo.

“What real-ly helped us was the

fact that the weather pre-dictions were very punctual and

accurate. the job was to find the rightwindow at the right time and to be ready tofly, so we needed to be flexible and readyto go when the weather permitted.sometimes the weather forced us to havealternate open airport up to the north.”

obviously the weather only had an im-pact on the training missions; with realscrambles, the situation is reported to theCaoC in uedem, Command and Controlsystem who handle them depending on theseverity of the tactical situation.

A WiNNiNg forMuLAtask force ice proved once again whatgreat capability the italian air force pos-sesses. the aircraftand crew had nodifficulties settingup and operating –even in the most extreme conditionsaway from homebase. in fact, theaircraft even out-performed expecations.

“at the beginning of the detachment weexpected some delay in the start-up of theaircraft since the shelters are not heatedand the temperature at night drops quite abit but the typhoon didn't suffer any typeof problems,” said Col. spigolon. <<

trAiNiNg MiSSioNin addition to Qra duties, the italian airforce typhoons fleet also took part in dailytraining missions over iceland.

“We carried out the same training mis-sions that we do at home exclusively in theair to air role. in iceland we developed a

training regime thatincreased in

difficulty withmore and

more

25A I R P O L I C I N G2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD

from 4th, 36th and 37th Wings, as well as aair defence Controller team from Poggiorenatico air Command operations and22nd radar group licola (Napoli) ready tooperate from Keflavik, the tf 'Northern ice'underwent a mini tacEval – tactical

Evaluation by the Nato – supervised byColonel thomas leibinger, head of the Nato evaluation team from Combined airoperations Centre at uedem, germany.

during this certification process, the unithad to implement standard operating pro-cedures in real-world air Policing situations.the performance of the whole teamwas monitored and assessed, withspecific focus on the response of thepilots in these realistic scenarios.

“on monday we had a massiveCaoC-Combined air operationCenter briefing. then on tuesdaytwo tango-scramble. Wednesdayone tango-scramble and one CPXscramble and by Wednesday night we weredeclared foC-full operational capability,”explained us Col. spigolon.

“so, within five days of arrival, we car-ried out a mini Nato tacEval, they gave usa certificate that we were approved and aday later we started our main task here iniceland, protecting their sky,” which wasgreat.

“the responsiveness of the people wasoutstanding. this was only possible thanksto the high standardization between thewings and squadrons in italy, you can seethe people are perfectly trained to work together – it’s not the first time it has hap-pened.

“this really was exceptional becauseusually when an air force goes to anotherbase, for example, to lithuania for Baltic airPolicing, they are replacing someone, sothe procedures are already in place. Buthere we arrived when there had not been aNato detachment for months. so we hadto set up all the procedures from scratch

because Nato needs to test it. i am veryproud of the task force air i lead becausethey did all this in just five days.”

QrA DutiES“the aircraft on Qra are equipped with thestandard conventional load for air defenceduty,” said Col. spigolon.

in case of a real scramble the typhoonpilot receives the task from CaoC in uedemgermany, who are responsible for Nato airPolicing in the north. (the CaoC torrejon inspain is responsible for the south area).

“they have control of this area and theydecide when and where to give the order ofscramble,” explained for us Col. spigolon.“When they think it’s appropriate they senda classified message to our CrC at Keflavikair Base. (CrC 'loki' and its four subordi-nate radar sites ensure iceland’s air surveil-lance), and the team there is made up oficelanders and Nato personnel.

“the activation of the scramble throughour radar operators is done in collaborationwith the icelanders. the messages aretransmitted on secure lines, at the sametime the alarm siren in the sor room inside

the pilot building starts to ring and the pilots who are here get into their flight gearquickly, they don’t dress in the hangar dueto climatic conditions.”

the pilots first put on their iPg suit, athermal sea survival suit, the next layer isthe anti-g suit, then the jacket, the helmetin order not to leave stuff inside the shelter.a waiting car takes them to the Qra shel-ters.

once they are in the cockpit explainsCol. spigolon they get in contact with thesor asking for the scramble data, start theengines and start taxing to the closest runway to take off.

“at the same time the CrC coordinateswith the atC in order to clear the airspacefrom the civilian traffic so we can safelytake off.”

atC air traffic Control manages the firstpart of the flight, then they are passed onCrC at Keflavik.

“our guys working at the CrC with theicelanders handle the entire interception

phase, once we arrive at the back of the in-tercept aircraft we begin to identify it, whattype of aircraft is, and then follow all the in-structions sent by the CaoC of uedem.”

during the interception the pilots can receive the following orders: escorting out,identifying the aircraft, or take it to landing.

a 4th Wing pilot said: “in practice thetwo interceptors always cooperate, for ex-ample one goes to Vid - Visual identifica-tion to report about the type of aircraft, thecountry and then all the classic informationthat must be reported; like if it is armed, if itis not armed, just in case we try to identifythe type of armament and other things.

“after the mission, we land and com-plete a report that is then sent to uedemCaoC and then to the Nato Command andControl Center where the various checksand assessments are made.”

the italian air force brought11 pilots to iceland, including thedetachment Commander, Col.spigolon. he explained the

selection process: “Because the deploy-ment is not particularly long, we decided tofocus on the selected guys who came hereon the training. on their return to theirhome base they were tasked with making adetailed briefing about what happened hereand they will have the opportunity to passon their experience to the rest of thesquadron.”

>> itALiAN tyPhooNS iN iCELAND

24 A I R P O L I C I N G

“at the same time the CrC coordinateswith the atC in order to clear the airspace from the civilian traffic so wecan safely take off.”

“the aircraft andcrew had no difficulties setting upand operating”

lauNChiNg thE EurofightEr WorLD huB

2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD 27N E W S

tYPhooN is World’s most PoWErfulaNd rEliaBlE sWiNg-rolE ComBat

Eurofighter typhoons fromthe uK and italy have tak-en lead roles policing the

skies over the Black sea regionunder the auspices of Nato'ssouthern air Policing mission.

a detachment of fourtyphoon fighter jets from theuK raf’s 3 fighter squadronwas deployed earlier this yearto work alongside the romanianair force to police the skiesover the Black sea.

deployed for four months,the aircraft were based in mihailKogalniceanu airbase in southeast romania.

meanwhile, italian air forcetyphoons from the 4° stormo(Wing) in grosseto were basedin Bulgaria at graf ignatievoairbase, close to the town ofPlovdiv, for a three-months deployment fulfilling a similarNato air Policing role. <<

tYPhooNs oN BLACK SEA PoLiCiNg roLE

2017 • EUROFIGHTER WorLD26 N E W S

harriettBaldwin theuK defence

Equipment ministerhas describedEurofighter typhoon asthe world’s most power-ful and reliable swing-rolecombat aircraft and praised

its reliability, versatility, capability andoperational track record.

“We know this fabulous fighter willstrengthen the uK’s prosperity. in an in-creasingly competitive and demanding in-ternational market it’s the only fighter jet onthe market able to offer such wide-rangingcapabilities. that’s why five European na-tions, alongside three gulf states, have already chosen this aircraft,” she said dur-ing the royal international air tatoo at raffairford in gloucestershire this July.

“that’s why the uK government and thegovernments of our European partners arefully focused on working with industry tomaximise typhoon’s export potential in theworldwide combat air jet market.

“the ministry of defence in particular ispleased now to be supporting and leadingsome of those campaigns, whether it’s inEurope, the middle East, or south East asia,where we believe typhoon meets the requirements of our international partners.

“When i was last at Warton i was privi-leged to see the first typhoon for the royalair force of oman and welcome them intothe typhoon family.”

she added: “typhoon strengthens uKdefence and the first quality i would high-light is its reliability; it has an engine thatgoes over 1,000 flying hours without need-ing unscheduled maintenance. it’s versatile,simultaneously supporting air-to-air andair-to surface missions. it gives Britainglobal coverage because, today, we knowthat our typhoons are all over the world.

“they’ve been heavily involved in strik-ing at the heart of daEsh in the middleEast, warding off the russian threat inEastern Europe, safeguarding the falklandislands 35 years after the invasion, and, ofcourse, 24 hours a day, 365 days a yearproviding our quick reaction alert to defendBritish skies.”

“typhoon will form the spear point of theuK’s future combat air defence capabilityalongside the f-35 lightning. But whatmakes it truly special is that, supported bythe ground-breaking support contract,tytaN, it has the capacity to evolve.

“in the past few years we’ve been upgrading typhoon with leading edge

weapons, Brimstone, meteor and stormshadow, and most recently the defencesecretary revealed we’re enhancing itsdefence aids subsystem (dass), whichprovides missile warners, chaff, and flaredispensers to adapt to the changingthreats.” <<

2017 has been one of the busiest yearsever for Eurofighter with aircraft andair forces taking part in operations

and exercises across the globe. it’s a clearindication that Eurofighter remains a worldclass combat aircraft – the aircraft of choicefor many of the world’s leading air forces.

at the same time, significant progresscontinues to be made on the capabilityfront, with work to integrate storm shadow,meteor and Brimstone. in short, this hasbeen a memorable 12 months forEurofighter.

and so, in order to reflect this progress,the Eurofighter World team is going tochange how we do things.

We’re delighted to say that in recentweeks we have launched a new EurofighterWorld hub on our www.eurofighter.com site.

the hub will be the central home for allour articles, pilot interviews, profiles of key

people, background stories on operationsand exercises, as well as images, videosand infographics. it will be regularly updat-ed, with its content shared through our social media channels – facebook, twitterand instagram.

rest assured we will continue to bringyou all the latest on capability updates, be-hind the scenes stories at bases, sheddinglight on life within the squadrons and in-sights into the working lives of Eurofighterpilots. But we will do so in a timely mannerand in a way that reflects the pace ofchange within the Eurofighter community –where the operational tempo has beengrowing in recent months.

for fans of the printed magazine don’tworry. Eurofighter World will still exist but inthe future we intend to introduce more ex-citing changes along the way to ensure itremains a vital read for anyone interested in Eurofighter typhoon.

But for now, make sure you head to ourwebsite and bookmark the EurofighterWorld hub – that way you’ll never miss athing that happens in the EurofighterWorld. <<

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