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Eurofighter Typhoon

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers through Eurofighter GmbH which was formed in 1986. However studies began as early as 1979 into what would become the Eurofighter Typhoon.The series production of the Eurofighter Typhoon is now underway and the aircraft has formally entered service with the Italian Air Force and with the Spanish Air Force. 'Initial Operational Capability' is expected to be declared by Germany and the United Kingdom later this decade. Austria has purchased 18 Typhoons, while Saudi Arabia signed a contract on 18 August 2006 for 72 to be built by BAE Systems.Its combination of agility, performance, stealth features and advanced avionics make it one of the most capable fighter aircraft currently in service.Compared to its rivals, Typhoon's cockpit and man/machine interface are claimed to be significantly advanced and intuitive, resulting in a lower pilot workload, building on the early glass cockpits pioneered by aircraft like the F/A-18 and Mirage 2000, looking similar, but working in a much more intuitive and effective way, with given operations requiring fewer pilot inputs. The conventional HOTAS-concept was enhanced with a direct voice input system to allow the pilot to perform mode selection and data entry procedures.The Typhoon's combat performance, particularly compared to the new F-22A Raptor and the upcoming F-35 fighter under development in the United States and the Dassault Rafale developed in France, has been the subject of much speculation. While making a reliable assessment is impossible with available information, there is a study by the UK's DERA comparing the Typhoon to other contemporary fighters. In it, the Typhoon was second only to the F-22A in combat performance. In March 2005, United States Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper, then the only person to have flown both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Raptor, talked to Air Force Print News about these two aircraft. He said that "the Eurofighter is both agile and sophisticated, but is still difficult to compare to the F/A-22 Raptor. They are different kinds of airplanes to start with; it's like asking us to compare a NASCAR car with a Formula 1 car. They are both exciting in different ways, but they are designed for different levels of performance"Typhoon has always been planned to be a swing role tactical fighter with robust air-to-ground capabilities. However the RAF's urgent air-to-ground requirement has driven the integration of an "austere" air to ground capability, based on the Rafael/Ultra Electronics Litening III laser designator and the Enhanced Paveway II G/LGB, earlier than was originally planned. A more comprehensive air-to-ground attack capability will be achieved for all partner nations later in the decade.The RAF's capability will now be available in the Block 5 aircraft delivered at the end of Tranche 1 and, by retrofit, on all RAF Tranche 1 jets.Testing of the latest air-to-ground Flight Control Software (FCS Phase 5), written by an EADS led team, began in 2006. The software will undergo rigorous testing in all four partner nations and six aircraft will be used for testing and validating the required clearances. Completion of these tests will lead to the final clearances for the Full Operational Capability (FOC) specified under the Main Development Contract. This is expected in early 2007 in time for the first Tranche 1 Block 5 aircraft. Alongside the Phase 5 software tests, the FOC avionics functionality (including the new pilot helmet) is now also undergoing flight testing, following the conclusion of rig tests in 2005. The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) issued a clearance for flight testing in December 2005.