Eurofighter Typhoon
Typhoon
A Eurofighter Typhoon F2 of the RAF
Role
Multirole fighter
Manufacturer Eurofighter GmbH
First flight
27 March 1994[1]
Introduced
2003
Status
Operational
Primary users Royal Air Force
Luftwaffe
Italian Air Force
Spanish Air Force
Number built
146 (as of May 2008)[2]
471 ordered (as of January
2009)
Unit cost
GB£69.3 million,[3]
Developed
from
British Aerospace EAP
Variants
Eurofighter Typhoon variants
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine
canard-delta wing multirole aircraft. It is be-
ing designed and built by a consortium of
three separate partner companies: Alenia
Aeronautica, BAE Systems, and EADS work-
ing through a holding company Eurofighter
GmbH which was formed in 1986. The pro-
ject is managed by NETMA (NATO Eurofight-
er and Tornado Management Agency) which
acts as the prime customer.[4]
The series production of the Eurofighter
Typhoon is underway, and the aircraft is be-
ing procured under three separate contracts
(referred to as "tranches"), each for aircraft
with successively greater capabilities. The
aircraft has entered service with the British
Royal Air Force, the German Luftwaffe, the
Italian Air Force, the Spanish Air Force and
the Austrian Air Force. Saudi Arabia has
signed a £4.43 billion (approx. €6.4 billion c.
2007) contract for 72 aircraft.[5]
Development
Official Eurofighter logo.
The UK had identified a requirement for a
new fighter as early as 1971. A specification,
AST 403, issued by the Air Staff in 1972, res-
ulted in a conventional "tailed" design known
as P.96, which was presented in the late
1970s. While the design would have met the
Air Staff’s requirements, the UK air industry
had reservations as it appeared to be very
similar to the F/A-18 Hornet, which was then
well advanced in its development. The design
had little potential for future growth, and
when it entered production it would secure
few exports in a market in which the Hornet
would be well established.[6] Simultaneously,
by 1979 the West German requirement for a
new fighter had led to th