BAE Systems

112 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017

the effects on the carbon fibre structure

in high ‘g’ manoeuvres. In 2006 it took part

in asymmetric store carriage handling

trials for which an anti-spin parachute was

installed in case the aircraft departed from

normal flight.

Though still without radar, the first

Eurofighter to fly with the dedicated EJ200

engine was the Italian’s DA3 in June 1995.

Naturally DA3’s main task was engine

development. Another task was testing

the single Mauser BK27mm cannon. In the

RAF there was debate about the need for

the cannon but the other partners all

favoured its inclusion. To save money the

RAF even entertained the idea of only

equipping only its Tranche 1 Typhoons

with the gun and installing ballast in it is

place in to the remaining Tranche 2 and 3

aircraft. Recent experience in Afghanistan

and Iraq showed that guns had their uses

so thankfully common sense prevailed

and all the fleet are to receive the cannon.

Spain’s sole prototype DA6, a

twin-seater, was the next in the air in

August 1996. It was employed on flight

envelope expansion and helmet

development but crashed after a double

flame-out in November 2002. DA6 was

carrying out engine relight trials when

one engine died at 40,000ft, as the crew

was attempting to relight it at 30,000ft the

other engine died. As it was a

development aircraft it did not have a

Ram-Air-Turbine installed which if

deployed would provide hydraulic and

electrical power. In an unstable aircraft

loss of power makes the aircraft

uncontrollable, so the crew ejected.

The remaining three development

batch machines made the maiden flights

in quick succession in the space of seven

weeks in early 1997. The last to take to the

air was BAE’s twin-seater ZH590 in

mid-March.

Instrumented Production

Aircraft

The initial production by the four-nation

grouping was for a tranche of 148

machines completed in April 2008. This

tranche was divided into two batches and

these were batches were themselves

sub-divided into three (Block 1, 1B and 1C)

and four blocks (Blocks 2, 2b, 5 and 5A)

respectively, each block gradually

introducing better standards of software.

Eventually all Tranche 1 aircraft were

brought up to Block 5 standard which

updated the existing air defence capability

by conferring full 9G operability and full

air-to-ground weapons capability. Often

wrongly regarded as a narrow-

specification Cold War bomber-destroyer,

Typhoon was always intended to be a

swing-role machine, carrying out air-to-air

and air-to-ground operations with equal

facility – and indeed ‘swinging’ from one

role to the other during the same mission,

at the flick of a switch. For the RAF the

Eurofighter was always viewed as a Jaguar

fighter-bomber replacement, as well as a

replacement for Tornado and Phantom air

‡ Italian Eurofighter DA7 MM-X603 in a loop. (Copyright Eurofighter) defence fighters.

Eurofighter IPA3 98+03 carrying

IRIS-T, Paveway 2 bombs, drop tanks

and AMRAAM missiles over Bavaria.

(Copyright Eurofighter - Geoffrey Lee)