Combat aircraft

(Sean Pound) #1

T


HE FIRST EXAMPLES of
the GBU-48 Enhanced
Paveway II were o cially
handed over to Taktisches
Luftwa engeschwader 31
‘Boelcke’ (TaktLwG 31 ‘B’,
Tactical Air Force Wing 31) at Nörvenich
on December 18 last year.
Generalmajor Klaus Veit, military
vice-president of the Federal O ce of
Bundeswehr Equipment, Information
Technology and In-Service Support
(BAAINBw), said, ‘With the GBU-48, the
BAAINBw is making its contribution to the
multi-role capability of the Euro ghter
and to ful lling the requirements of the
Luftwa e.’
Accepting the new weapons on behalf
of the German Air Force was Generalmajor

Günter Katz, commander of the  ying
units within the Luftwa e command.
He noted that the arrival of the GBU-48
would allow the Luftwa e to ‘respond
to challenges that we do not even know
today’. He described the EF2000’s new
armament as, ‘the  nal piece of the puzzle
to realize an all-weather and precision air-
to-ground role.’

NATO role
Certi cation to use the dual-mode bomb
was received shortly before the o cial
hand-over. Beginning on January 1, the
EF2000 was declared operational in its
new role and available for the NATO
Response Force.
‘In 2018 we will have to prove that the
Euro ghter’s swing role — a  ghter in

The recent delivery of GBU-48 precision-guided bombs has
provided the Luftwaffe EF2000 fl eet — the Typhoon name is
not used in German service — with an air-to-ground capability,
meeting the requirement for the Eurofi ghter to be multi-role.

REPORT Thomas Newdick


TaktLwG 31 is


the fi rst of four


Luftwaffe Eurofi ghter


wings to declare itself


multi-role.


The recent delivery of GBU-48 precision-guided bombs has


64 April 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net


EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON // GERMAN AIR FORCE


64-65 SUPP_Luftwaffe C.indd 64 15/02/2018 13:40

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