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Cassidian proves capabilities of a new e-scan radar demonstrated by simulation study 15:48 GMT, March 22, 2012 Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, has demonstrated, in a simulation study, the operational advantages of the Eurofighter’s future e-scan radar and has introduced the first pilots to the particular features of this technology. The two-year study was carried out under contract to the military procurement office, which is the Bundeswehr’s Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use (BAAINBw), in cooperation with IABG GmbH in Munich/Ottobrunn. For several years, IABG has been operating a man-in-the-loop simulator (MILSIM) to simulate realistic...

British business pins Gulf hopes on mega fighter jet deal Wednesday, 21 March 2012 By Carina Kamel Al Arabiya / London As the British defence sector prepares to submit what could be one of the most significant deals in defence contracting with the UAE Air force, the British government is stepping up efforts to court its Gulf partners. Al Arabiya was granted exclusive access to a private meeting of more than 50 British CEOs and executives from leading companies, including defence contracting giant BAE Systems, where the UK’s Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Stephen Green, made the...

Turbulence ahead with Indian jet deal The Indians, stormed “senior government sources,” had gone for the “Asda option instead of Waitrose”. By preferring the French Rafale jet rather than the British-built Typhoon, they rejected, according to the Prime Minister, a “superb aircraft with far better capabilities”. How dare they, asked MPs, snub Britain, which had given them £1.2 billion in aid? One newspaper even blamed the decision on the Gandhi family. The truth about Britain’s “failure” to land the £6.3 billion Indian military jet deal — and the thousands of jobs it will sustain - is different. The game is...

A scroll on the home page of the Times of India says that the French Rafale has beaten the Eurofighter for the 126 (and prolly many more) plane MMRCA deal.

Oman requests Typhoon buy from BAE By: Craig Hoyle Oman has issued a request for proposals to BAE Systems linked to the purchase of about 12 Eurofighter Typhoons, only one month after its plan to also buy a new batch of Lockheed Martin F-16s was revealed. In a statement issued on 23 January, the UK government said it "welcomes the government of Oman's request for a proposal from BAE Systems for the supply and support of Typhoon aircraft". The milestone represents "an important step towards the contract", it added. © BAE Systems The UK and Omani governments have been involved...

Saudi Typhoon storms ahead Posted 23 January 2012 Saudi Arabia has faced challenges introducing the Eurofighter Typhoon into service, not least in establishing local production – which has yet to start. But, as Jon Lake reports, despite this the Royal Saudi Air Force is pushing hard to adopt new capabilities and is believed to have been driving the pace of the development of new air-to-ground capabilities for the tranche 2 aeroplane. Many analysts believe that the pace of development for the phase 1 enhanced (P1E) programme of the Saudi Arabian Typhoons has been more rapid than might have been expected...

UKIP: 'UK must build naval Typhoon' 19 January 2012 The UK should cancel the purchase of the F-35C and invest in developing a naval variant of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has said. Lord Alexander Hesketh, UKIP's defence spokesman and former executive deputy chairman of Babcock International Group, said that adopting a naval Typhoon would allow the UK to restore carrier strike capability on its Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers before 2020 while saving money and protecting UK jobs. UKIP estimates suggest it would cost £1.4bn to develop a naval typhoon, with unit costs of around £80m....

Britain must continue giving aid to India to secure £6.6bn fighter jet deal, says minister The Government's controversial decision to continue giving money to India, a nation that has more billionaires than the UK and an aid programme of its own, is directly linked to developing trade and investment opportunities, a senior minister admitted yesterday. With surprising bluntness, the International Development minister, Andrew Mitchell, said the decision to spend £1.2bn over the next five years was part of a broader partnership that included the hoped-for sale of fighter jets to India. "It's an important market, and for our children and...

Omani F-16 win delivers blow for Eurofighter By: Craig Hoyle London Oman has placed a surprise follow-on order with Lockheed Martin for a second batch of 12 F-16C/D Block 50 fighters, with the development appearing to have ended the UK's hopes of selling Eurofighter Typhoons to the nation. Announcing the deal in a 14 December contract notification, the US Department of Defense said Muscat will acquire 10 single-seat fighters and a pair of two-seat trainers under a deal worth $600 million. These will join eight and four of the respective types already in service with the Royal Air Force of...

“I’d rather go to war in a Typhoon than in a F-18 (Super) Hornet” an Aussie exchange pilot says December 5, 2011 “I’d rather go to war in a Typhoon than in a F-18 Hornet”. This alleged Australian exchange pilot’s statement is one of the most interesting outcomes (and marketing slogans) of BERSAMA LIMA 11 an exercise marking the 40th Anniversary of the Five Powers Defence Agreement (FPDA) the only multilateral defence agreement in South East Asia with an operational element commitment undertaken by five nations (UK, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia) to consult in the event of an...

RPT-Swiss opt for Saab's Gripen fighter jets - paper (Repeats to additional subscribers) ZURICH Nov 30 (Reuters) - Switzerland has chosen to replace its fighter jet fleet with Swedish defence and aerospace group Saab's JAS-39 Gripen, Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources close to the government. Neutral Switzerland has wrangled for the past three years over whether to replace its ageing Northrop F-5E/F Tiger fighters, purchased in 1976 and 1981, with up to 33 new aircraft. Saab shares were up 8.5 percent to 117.10 Swedish crowns by 1345 GMT after the newspaper report. The newspaper said the...

Eurofighter best option for Japan's ASDF David Warren / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun The international security environment is evolving. Particularly in terms of air defence, new technology is constantly being developed, including fifth generation fighter aircraft with high stealth performance that prevents targets from being detected easily by a radar. The Japanese Air Self-Defence Force, therefore, needs to take measures to ensure it can meet any challenge in the future. Which aircraft to select as a successor of ASDF's F-4 fighter aircraft that has become obsolete will be a critical decision for Japan's air defence for the next 20...

#DXB11: Certain victory for Rafale turns uncertain So much for the rampant rumours (well, rampant throughout France anyway) that the UAE's long-delayed fighter contract was a done-deal for the Rafale. Everything we know about the United Arab Emirates fighter modernisation plans have turned upside down within the first 24h of the Dubai Air Show. Quick summary: Dassault Rafale still in, Saab Gripen still out, Eurofighter Typhoon made a surprise entrance, Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 is now lurking and Boeing throws F-15 Silent Eagle into the mix. And the UAE Air Force, meanwhile, confirmed it wants to buy a "next...

DUBAI: UAE issues shock Eurofighter Typhoon request By: Craig Hoyle Dubai France’s long-running campaign to sell up to 60 Dassault Rafales to the United Arab Emirates faces a shock last-minute challenge, with the Eurofighter consortium having been asked to submit a proposal based on its Typhoon combat aircraft. News of the development broke on the eve of the Dubai air show, where both types are scheduled to take part in the daily flying display. Sources have confirmed that the UK provided a formal briefing about the Typhoon to UAE officials on 17 October, after being asked to explore how it...

India opens bids for combat planes India on Friday opened the commercial bids for the proposed deal to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft for the IAF Aman Malik, Elizabeth Roche & Tarun Shukla New Delhi: India on Friday opened the commercial bids for the proposed deal to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF), but didn’t announce which vendor was lower on unit costs. Six vendors—Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. of the US, RSK MiG of Russia, Dassault Aviation SA of France, Saab AB of Sweden and European Aeronautic Defence and Space...

“Omnirole” Rafale Steals Lead Over Eurofighter Typhoon in Libyan Operations Our Bureau Tue, Nov 1, 2011 07:34 CET While NATO forces fielded the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon in the UN-mandated war against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, details emerging from briefings by the U.K. and French air forces about the use of their respective fighters tell that the Rafale was the primary attack plane while the Eurofighter Typhoon provided intelligence through its targeting pods. With the Libyan hostilities over, the Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon face off one another in an estimated $11 billion tender for India’s Medium Multirole...

Eurofighter forecasts new Brazil-Turkey fighter in 2025 As part of its KF-X presentation at the Seoul Air Show on 21 October, Eurofighter representative Cassidian displayed a fascinating chart with a fighter market forecast. Click on the chart to download a high-resolution version. There are some questionable assertions, as one might expect of a manufacturer-driven forecast. Eurofighter, of course, predicts the Dassault Rafale loses in the United Arab Emirates and India. The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet production line joins the Lockheed Martin F-22 and Boeing F-15E in the history books by 2017, according to Eurofighter. Interestingly, Eurofighter accepts that all 3,100...

UPDATE 2-Germany wants to cut defence orders Tue, Oct 18 2011 By Sabine Siebold BERLIN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere plans deep cuts to Germany's military orders as part of sweeping reforms to the Bundeswehr, including a reduction in the order for Eurofighter jets, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters. The note from De Maiziere to parliament's defence committee details plans to cut by 37 to 140 the order for Eurofigher aircraft, to reduce an order for Puma tanks to 350 from 410 and to slash an order for Tiger combat helicopters to...

Eurojet offers Korea chance to join consortium By Jung Sung-ki Korea has a chance to join a European military engine consortium for joint manufacturing, development and marketing. The offer is conditional to the country deciding to power its new-generation aircraft with a European engine, according to a key executive from Eurojet Turbo GmbH. Eurojet is a four-nation military aerospace engine consortium involving the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Germany. The consortium has already secured orders of 1,500 EJ200 engines internationally and expects hundreds more, according to Paul Herrmann, Eurojet’s vice president-sales, as India and other nations are considering buying Eurofighter...

Carrying hopes of so many BAE's mighty Eurofighter Typhoon - built and developed on the Fylde Coast Published on Thursday 29 September 2011 14:10 IN April 1994, workers watched with pride as the Typhoon -– then still called Eurofighter – took off from the Warton airfield for its maiden flight in the UK. All those present knew the significance of the occasion. For riding on the plane’s success were the jobs of thousands of people. Since then, 108 of the aircraft have rolled off the Warton production line, and they have seen active service, including most recently in Libya. The...