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When the siren sounded, the RAF pilots dashed for the cockpits of their Typhoons. Within minutes, two jet fighters were streaking across a summer sky, their wings laden with air-to-air missiles, searching for unidentified intruders they know as “bandits”. Over the next half hour, Wing Commander Roger Elliott and his wingman would make three separate interceptions of Russian military aircraft. “You do have adrenalin pumping and when you launch, you don’t know what’s out there,” said Wg Cdr Elliott. “But it also makes you feel very satisfied because that is what we’re here to do.” These pilots from II Squadron...

Inside the ultimate test drive: How British test pilots put the Eurofighter Typhoon through its paces British test pilots from BAE Systems have lifted the lid on how they push the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet to the edge of its limits as part of an ‘ultimate test drive’ before delivering the aircraft to customers including the Royal Air Force. The jet’s power, speed and agility are all brought to the fore as test pilots, based at Warton, Lancashire, take the controls of each Typhoon for the first time – as soon as they roll out from the factory floor to...

Development of the Eurofighter Typhoon into a multi-role combat jet has taken a long time. But the aircraft displayed here by BAE Systems test pilot Nat Makepeace shows that this capability is finally nearing. It is carrying six MBDA Brimstone air-to-ground missiles on two three-rail under-wing launchers, plus two Raytheon Paveway IV laser and GPS-guided bombs. In addition, four MBDA Meteor BVRAAMs nestle on under-fuselage stations, and two MBDA ASRAAM shorter-range AAMs occupy the outer pylons. The Paveways are already operational on UK Royal Air Force Typhoons, having been integrated as a ‘Phase 1 Enhancement’ (P1E). The Meteors form part...

PARIS --- Three years after initial ground trials began in Italy, a Eurofighter Typhoon trials aircraft has carried out its first live firing of a Storm Shadow cruise missile. “Storm Shadow has been fired from Eurofighter Typhoon and the integration programme is on track,” BAE Systems Senior Communications Advisor – Combat Air Matthew Squires said in a July 6 e-mail. “The functional test referred to in our previous statement was a firing of a Storm Shadow weapon from a development aircraft which took place in June 2016.” He added that “This is the position of Eurofighter and the [Eurofighter Partner...

David Cameron has boasted of his efforts to help sell “brilliant things” such as Eurofighter Typhoons to Saudi Arabia on the day the European parliament voted for an arms embargo on the country over its bombardment of Yemen. The prime minister talked of the UK government’s role in selling equipment made by defence company BAE Systems to Saudi Arabia, Oman and other countries as he visited the firm’s factory in Preston. At almost the same time, the European parliament voted in favour of an EU-wide ban on arms being sold to Saudi Arabia in protest at its heavy aerial bombing...

BAE Systems Plc is offering new options for funding defense deals as the low oil price impacts the spending power of clients in the Middle East, clouding sales prospects for weaponry including the Eurofighter warplane. A $1.5 billion bond sale will support BAE’s cash levels over the next two years, providing it with the flexibility to broker deals requiring smaller upfront payments from customers, Chief Financial Officer Peter Lynas said Thursday. While the debt sale in December was “opportunistic” in a cheap market, BAE took the step “recognizing the financing pressures on certain export customers given the ongoing low oil...

The complete set of weapons planned for the RAF’s Typhoon fleet are displayed on the full-scale model. From left to right: ASRAAM; Brimstone; Storm Shadow; Paveway and Meteor. (Photo: Chris Pocock) British Royal Air Force (RAF) test and evaluation pilots have flown a Eurofighter Typhoon equipped with the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) software and avionics. The service is keen to ensure that the P2E and follow-on P3E phases of development are completed on time by the end of 2018, so that it can withdraw its last three remaining Tornado strike aircraft squadrons in 2018-19. The RAF will not be replacing...

Britain is considering sending fighter jets to Japan for the first time in decades for joint combat exercises in the country, amid heightened tension in the region over China’s territorial claims. The announcement of closer military ties with Tokyo came as the Foreign Secretary said that any attempt to restrict air or sea travel in the disputed South China Sea would be viewed as a "red flag". Philip Hammond said freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, where tensions are high over territorial disputes between China and its neighbours are “non-negotiable” for Britain. Britain will hold at least one...

Eurofighter has responded to demand from potential customers to add an anti-ship missile capability to the multi-role Typhoon, by conducting a fit test of a configuration with six of the weapons. An image released by the Eurofighter consortium during the Dubai air show shows an Italian example of the twin-engined combat aircraft loaded with six MBDA Marte ER missiles. Eurofighter Weighing 260kg (572lb), the weapons would be carried and fired with the Typhoon maintaining a subsonic flight envelope, with the fighter also capable of carrying air-to-air missiles at the same time. Eurofighter partner company BAE Systems has previously conducted sub-scale...

NATO continues its military buildup in close vicinity to Russia: for the first time since the inception of the Ukrainian crisis, German Eurofighters are set to patrol the Baltic Airspace with full ammunition. The NATO Baltic air-policing mission has been carried out by its member states since 2004, when Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania acceded to the military bloc. In contrast with September - December 2014, the aircraft will carry enough ammo for a real fight: a gun, infrared short-range missiles, radar-guided medium-range missiles and an electronic defense system with decoys that are ejected at a threat.

ROME, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Kuwait signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to buy Eurofighter jets in a deal worth up to 8 billion euros ($9 billion), Italian industry sources said. The Eurofighter aircraft are produced by Italy's Finmeccanica, BAE Systems and Airbus . The sources said the 20-year-long deal with Kuwait would be finalised "in a few weeks". The news, first reported on Italian daily Corriere della Sera's web site, drove up Finmeccanica shares by more than 4 percent. The company, which has a 36 percent stake in the Eurofighter programme, could not be immediately reached for comment....

A specially painted Eurofighter Typhoon commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain has been unveiled. The jet has been painted in the colours used at the time of the battle, which ran from July to September 1940. It also bears a red devil emblem in honour of the only RAF Fighter Command pilot awarded a Victoria Cross in the conflict. It was revealed during a ceremony at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. The Battle of Britain was the German air force's attempt to gain air superiority over the RAF. Their ultimate failure was one of the turning points of the...

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and European missiles manufacturer MBDA have signed the first export contract of the Meteor active radar guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), for an estimated amount of $1 bn, reports today French newspaper La Tribune. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and European missiles manufacturer MBDA have signed the first export contract of the Meteor active radar guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), for an estimated amount of $1 bn, reports today French newspaper La Tribune. MBDA's Meteor active radar guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile and Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile fitted on an Eurofighter Typhoon The Meteor missiles...

Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain have through their Eurofighter project signed a 1 billion euro (0.83 billion pound) contract to provide their jointly backed Typhoon jet with a new sort of radar, in an effort to secure new orders. The fighter is produced by Eurofighter partner companies BAE Systems (BAES.L), Airbus (AIR.PA) and Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI), and BAE said it signed a contract worth 365 million pounds ($572 million) to integrate the new radar onto the jets. Under the deal signed in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Wednesday the Typhoon jet will in future be available with the "Captor E-Scan radar". The four...

Austria is a tiny, politically neutral country with no nearby enemies. And yet the Austrian air force possesses 15 high-performance Typhoon jet fighters. Not only are the twin-engine, supersonic warplanes arguably unnecessary in light of Vienna’s defense needs—they’re also too expensive for the government’s modest military budget. The 15 Typhoons rarely fly. And when they do, they carry only a tiny fraction of the weaponry that other Typhoon operators—the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia—routinely hang on the high-tech fighters. And in stark contrast to other countries—which usually employ twice as many pilots as they have fighters, thus ensuring...

The Royal Air Force’s (RAF) most advanced fighters ever are now in operational service following the largest ever fighter upgrade programme delivered by BAE Systems. Known as Phase 1 Enhancements (P1E), the upgrade package delivers a range of enhancements to the Typhoon aircraft. Developed by BAE Systems working together with its Eurofighter Partner companies, the RAF and UK Ministry of Defence, (MOD), the capabilities introduced have been developed on the back of operations in Libya, and cement Typhoon’s place as a world class multi-role fighter. The aircraft upgrades include enhanced computing power, weapons systems integration advancements and improved sensor suites...

Eurofighter Typhoon is large, expensive, relatively unmaneuverable, and hard to maintain to get many sorties per week, Pierre Sprey, designer of the F-16, F-15, and defense analyst, told RT. The German Air Force has uncovered serious manufacturing defects in the fuselage of the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter jet. The jet is not ready for armed conflict, according to the German Defense Ministry which ordered to reduce annual flying hours for each aircraft due to the fuselage possibly becoming unstable. RT: Defense contractors are reportedly eyeing lucrative contracts now that the military campaign in Iraq and Syria has been launched. Do...

(MENAFN - AFP) A manufacturing fault has been discovered in the Eurofighter Typhoon warplanes, Germany said Tuesday, announcing it was suspending deliveries of the sophisticated jets. The news was another blow to the troubled and costly Eurofighter programme -- and raised concerns over the use of the planes. According to Germany's defence ministry, the defect discovered was in the rear fuselage of the twin-engine multirole fighter. As a result, Berlin has decided to cut the time its Eurofighters spend in the air each year in half, from 3,000 hours to 1,500 hours. The news website Spiegel Online reported that, in...

Considered almost unbeatable in the air-to-air role, the F-22 successfully debuted in combat, taking part in air strikes against ISIS targets. But what if the F-22 found a 4th Gen. opponent? Even though we donÂ’t know much details about them, missions flown by the F-22 Raptor over Syria marked the combat debut of the stealth jet. As already explained, the radar-evading planes conducted air strikes against ISIS ground targets, in what (considering the 5th Generation planeÂ’s capabilities) were probably Swing Role missions: the stealth jets flew ahead of the rest of the strike package to cover the other attack planes,...

A report in Spiegel magazine says German air force is weaker than previously thought and a funding crisis means scores of aircraft are not operational The German air force is facing such a severe funding shortage that many of its aircraft are unable to fly, mechanics are forced to cannibalise parts from existing planes and only eight of the country's 109 Eurofighters are fully operational, according to a report in Spiegel magazine. German defence sources have rubbished the article, saying it is inaccurate and does not match up to official air force logs. But the claim that Germany's air force...