BAE Systems

The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 115

EAP to EurofightEr tyPhoon

for these roles by both BAE and
Leonardo and one by Casa.

Tranche 3 Production
On 31st July 2009 owing to financial
constraints the four partner nations
agreed to split the Tranche 3 contract
into two. They then signed the Tranche
3A production contract for 112 aircraft,
worth €9 billion. This number comprises
40 for the UK, 31 for Germany, and 21
for Italy and 20 for Spain. Tranche 3B is
very unlikely to go ahead so the total
Typhoon fleet for the four will be 472.
However there have been substantial
orders from other countries; namely
Austria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and most
recently Kuwait.
Tranche 3 models physically differ
little from the previous aircraft. The
aircraft has some small panels on the
fuselage to accommodate the fitting of
Conformal Fuel Tanks. There is a new
internal structure in the nose section
designed to accommodate the wirings,
power, cooling and electronics for the
new E-Scan radar. Tranche 3 aircraft also
feature Hi-speed Data Networking
capabilities and more computing
power.
In September 2011 BAE Systems
revealed that the annual Typhoon
production rate was to be reduced
significantly. Four final assembly sites
around Europe were configured to

deliver up to a combined 60 Typhoons a

year, with 53 planned in 2011, but

production fell to 43 a year by late 2012,

before later being reduced further to 35.

In November 2015 the production rate

was halved to keep the line open until

2020. The decision to extend the
      production schedule enables the
      Eurofighter consortium to keep its final
      assembly lines active while it pursues
      international sales opportunities.

Typhoon’s Performance

The Eurojet EJ200 engines have proved to

offer excellent combat thrust-to-weight

ratio in excess of 1.2:1. Besides conferring

on the aircraft the ability to supercruise,

(i.e. fly supersonically without using

reheat) engines enable the aircraft to go

supersonic in under 30 seconds and to

reach M1.6 at 36,000ft less than 2.5

minutes after take-off. It can also fly at

Mach 2 at up to 65,000ft. The Typhoon’s

‡ Italian IPA2

MM.X614 taking off

from Warton during

Storm Shadow

dropping trials in

September 2015.

Storm Shadow is

under the right

wing and a camera

pod under the

fuselage.

(BAE SYSTEMS)

RAF Nos 3(F) and 29(R) Squadron

single-seat Typhoons based at RAF

Coningsby, Lincolnshire. (Copyright

Eurofighter - Geoffrey Lee)

†