DA6, the
Spanish-built Development Aircraft, in flight over rugged terrain near Getafe,
showing the large and spacious cockpit of the twin-seat variant of the Eurofighter
to good effect. It has been used for evaluation flights by representatives from
both South Korea and the Netherlands.
Eurofighter carbon fibre airframe structures The test flights were flown from
RAF Leuchars in August In-flight refuelling trials have also taken place, as
have test firings of the AIM-9L Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM, as well as environmental
trials to +/ 70°C and extremes of humidity The seven development aircraft will
be joined in 2001 by the first of five Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA),
intended to advance the weapons integration, Defensive Aids Sub System (DASS)
and Sensor Fusion evaluation stages In addition to the four European customers,
Greece holds options on between 60 and 90 Eurofighters, whilst Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, South Korea, Australia and the Netherlands are all being actively
pursued as potential customers The first production aircraft PT 01 (IPA-1) is
expected to fly in August 2001, and will be followed by PT 02 (IPA 2} for Alenia
Aerospace and PT 03 (IPA 3) for EADS Deutschland First deliveries to the Royal
Air Force will commence in 2002 The RAF's first two seater will remain at Warton
from June 2002 as the initial equipment of the Operational Evaluation Unit (17
Squadron) to facilitate the training of instructor pilots Towards the end of
2003/early 2004 there should be enough aircraft available to set up the Operational
Conversion Unit (29 Squadron) at RAF Coningsby which will also house the first
operational Eurofighter squadron This will be followed by Leeming and Leuchars
currently operating two squadrons of Tornado F3s each Altogether, the RAF will
receive 55 aircraft from the first production batch Luftwaffe instructor pilots
will tram on the Eurofighter at Manching in August 2002, followed by the training
of a further group from JG 73 at Laage in April 2003, with an expected total
of 50 instructor pilots being qualified by spring 2005 Thereafter JG 74 'Molders',
JG 71 'Richtofen' and JG 72 Westfalen' have been designated to receive their
aircraft in 2005 2007 and 2009 respectively As with the Royal Air Force and
Luftwaffe Italian Air Force instructors will train on the aircraft at the manufacturer's
plant at Turin Caselle, followed by deliveries of operational aircraft to Grosetto,
Trapani and Gioia del Colle Spanish instructors will convert onto the Eurofighter
with EADS (CASA) at Getafe, followed by deliveries to the two operational Eurofighter
wings at Moron and Albacete It should be noted that the first aircraft delivered
will be to Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) standard, in air defence configuration
Full Operational Clearance (FOC) being achieved at the end of 2003, this representing
the definitive multi-role standard After this, DASS and Direct Voice Input (DVI)
will be fully integrated along with the Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) and Forward
Looking Infra-red (FLIR) Thus by 2005 it will be able to perform its much vaunted
swing role missions, i.e. it will be capable of being redirected from air-air
combat to air ground tasks during the same sortie In January 2001, the Typhoon
was one of five types included in the Czech Government's invitation to tender
for the supply of 24 36 new multi-role fighters
Aircraft characteristics
The Typhoon has a long coupled canard delta configuration albeit of very compact
layout The aircraft is characterised by a comprehensive application of the concept
of sensor fusion of combat related data and defensive information This integrates
the Euroradar ECR 90 mechanically scanned radar, the Pirate infra red search
and track system (IRSTS), plus the DASS which incorporates chaff/flare dispensers,
wing tip mounted ESM/ECM pods towed radar decoys front and rear hemisphere missile
approach and laser warning detectors The cockpit has a wide angle HUD for flight
reference data and three large multi-function colour head down displays (MHDD)
for tactical, navigation, radar and systems information and the Multi-Information
Distribution System (MIDS), which fuses IFF, radar and IRSTS data to provide
an overall picture of the battlespace The pilot has a helmet-mounted display,
with built-in night vision capability and protection from laser threats Most
radical is the adoption of direct voice input (DVI) for non-critical functions
relating to radio management and display mode selections etc This is the first
application of voice control technology on a combat aircraft DVI is part of
the Voice, Throttle and Stick (VTAS) control functionality, designed to reduce
pilot workload Workload is further reduced by the fact that essential information
for the pilot is prioritised by artificial intelligence, presenting him or her
with only the data relevant to a given phase of flight On the ground, priority
is given to engine and systems status and once airborne, the displays are automatically
switched to the presentation of navigation data If a threat is detected by any
one of the aircraft's sensors whilst in navigation mode, the displays are automatically
selected to present the relevant information about the target and how long he/she
has in which to react to it Individual displays and the type of information
presented can also be commanded by direct voice input if required A mix of at
least ten air to-air missiles can be carried which will include ASRAAM and IRIS-T,
with Matra BAE Meteor selected as the beyond visual range missile For the air-ground
role, a variety of dumb and 'smart' bombs, plus ALARM anti-radiation missiles
can be carried, with Matra-BAE Storm Shadow long range stand-off cruise missiles
and the German/Swedish KEPD350 (Kinetic Energy Penetration Destroyer) becoming
available from 2004 Whilst the other three European partners have specified
the 27mm Mauser cannon for their aircraft the UK Government made the controversial
decision in 2000 to dispense with it on RAF Eurofighters as being inappropriate
to the modern air battle arena The powerplant is a pair of Eurojet EJ200 afterburning
turbofans, each developing 13,490lb (600kN) dry and 20,250lb (900kN) in full
afterburner
