The Eurofighter consortium has named Jorge Tamarit Degenhardt as its new chief executive, with the Airbus Defence & Space official replacing Leonardo’s Giancarlo Mezzanatto after his three-year term.
Announced on 7 January, the appointment follows a bumper end to 2024 which saw the four-nation company clinch follow-on orders with Italy and Spain, and advance planning for a major mid-life upgrade to the multirole type.
“Jorge brings significant leadership experience to the company… which will be of great value as more orders continue to be placed, and more Typhoon aircraft delivered during the coming decade,” says Richard Hamilton, chair of the Eurofighter supervisory board.
During a two-decade career with Airbus’s defence unit, Tamarit Degenhardt – a dual Spanish/German national – has held roles including Eurofighter programme head for Spain, along with leading a programme to supply India’s air force with 56 C295 medium transports.
“I look forward to working with all our stakeholders to ensure that the Eurofighter programme continues its impressive track record on the order side, and at the same time delivers the state-of-the-art capabilities our air forces need in today’s and future combat,” Tamarit Degenhardt says.
Eurofighter’s recent orders revival has involved Spain signing a Halcon II-programme deal for 25 aircraft, and Italy committing to take up to 24 examples as replacements for its oldest Tranche 1 examples. Germany had already signed for 38 of the combat aircraft via its Quadriga acquisition, and in June 2024 announced plans to buy another 20, while Spain also will receive 20 Halcon I jets.
The Eurofighter programme’s partner companies – Airbus Defence & Space (Germany and Spain), BAE Systems (the UK), and Leonardo (Italy) also are pursuing multiple additional export sales of the Typhoon, with campaigns in nations including Poland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
More than 530 Eurofighters are in current active use across the programme’s partner air forces, and with export customers Austria, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
