Defence Ministers support Eurofighter at Defendory International Airshow, Greece

(Hallbergmoos, 05 October 2004) A very strong combined government and industrial delegation from all four Eurofighter Typhoon nations is visiting this week's Defendory exhibition in Athens. The defence procurement Ministers from Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have been joined by the Chief Executives of the Eurofighter partner companies.

The delegation's purpose is to show its strong commitment to the Eurofighter Typhoon project and in particular to progress a number of export opportunities. Austria has selected Eurofighter Typhoon and the aircraft is on the final shortlist in Singapore. Eurofighter Typhoon was also judged in 1999 by the then Greek government to meet the Greek Air Force's next generation fighter requirement. The Eurofighter Typhoon delegation is making clear its support for Greek involvement in the project and for related industrial activities in Greece.

Eurofighter Typhoon is being brought into service with the partner nation air forces, and is winning enthusiastic support from all the pilots who have flown it. Its world-class performance is matched by its exceptional reliability and availability. Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft recently demonstrated their air-to-air capability when they flew 10.000 km to Singapore for trials and evaluation activities - an outstanding achievement for an aircraft so soon after its introduction into service.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Eurofighter Typhoon is the world's most advanced swing-role combat aircraft, developed by the leading aerospace companies, Alenia Aeronautica, BAE SYSTEMS, EADS Germany and EADS CASA, of the four partner countries, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain.

Agile and highly maneuverable, the twin-engine Eurofighter Typhoon is designed to operate from hastily prepared bases and small runways for worldwide operations. It is equipped with an advanced multi-mode radar and an extensive range of sensors and electronic countermeasures.

The aircraft's ability to gain air superiority beyond visual range (BVR) and in close combat, and at the same time deliver high sortie rates against air, naval and ground targets in all weathers with a variety of weapons, demands close attention to pilot workload. In Eurofighter the pilot flies through use of a computerized flight control system, which offers full carefree handling.

A strong emphasis has been placed on reducing cost of ownership in addition to outstanding performance and flight safety. Eurofighter Typhoon is less expensive to run than the generation of aircraft it is designed to replace.

The Eurofighter partner nations plan to take delivery of 620 aircraft: 180 for Germany, 121 for Italy, 87 for Spain and 232 for the United Kingdom. An additional export order of 18 Eurofighter Typhoon has been agreed with the Government of Austria. Eurofighter has also been downselected in Singapore in a competition for a Future Fighter.

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defense has agreed an industrial participation programme with Eurofighter GmbH for the future enhancement of the weapon system. Eurofighter Typhoon has also been selected by Greece to meet its respective requirements for a future fighter.

Following Type Acceptance on 30 June, 2003, Series Production Aircraft have now been delivered to each of the four nation air forces and entry into service training is proceeding. This follows first flights of three twin-seat Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) in April 2002, and first flight of a single-seat Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA4) on 26 February 2004.

Images

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