110 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
(87). (BAe is now BAE SYSTEMS, Aeritalia is
now Leonardo while MBB and CASA are
now part of Airbus Defence & Space.)
All this prevarication had an adverse
effect on the entry into service to
Typhoon which would not now be until- Even after that controversy was not
escaped when Germany baulked at the
name ‘Typhoon’ for Eurofighter as it
reminded them of the highly effective
Hawker Typhoons on World War 2.
BAE’s share of Production
BAE has the largest share of the
production of the aircraft and its
Samlesbury factory manufactures the
foreplanes, spine, front fuselage including
the cockpit, fin, inboard flaperons, stage 1
of the rear fuselage, and wing to fuselage
brackets. Final assembly is at the Warton
plant’s 302 hangar, previously the location
for Tornado final assembly. UK flight
testing is also centred at Warton. BAE is
responsible for avionics which covers
avionics integration, displays and controls,
electromagnetic compatibility, integrated
monitoring and recording system,
lightning protection, electrical and fuel
systems, defensive aids, escape and life
support systems and direct voice input
control.Prototypes
Seven prototypes or development
machines were built; designated as
DA1-DA7, each with specially allotted test
roles. Each country had two prototypes
except Spain that only had one. Two of
these prototypes; DA4 and DA6 were
twin-seaters. Clearly seven development
aircraft would be insufficient for the flight
test tasking so five of the initial
production aircraft, IPA1 – IPA5 were fitted
out with test instrumentation. Three
further initial production aircraft joined
these as IPA6-1PA8 and five instrument
production aircraft ISPA1-ISPA5 kitted out
with test equipment to record
performance in service. A total of 20
instrumented aircraft. BAE DA2 ZH588
at Farnborough- The aircraft is
carrying two
‘smokewinders’ and
four AMRAAM
missiles.
(Copyright Eurofighter
- Geoffrey Lee)
BAe’s
Development
Aircraft DA2 ZH588
taking off on its first
flight at Warton on
4th April 1994.
(Copyright Eurofighter- Geoffrey Lee)