STEWART PENNEY / MANCHING
Germany and UK first partners to receive aircraft, with initial versions primarily intended to be used for air defence
Dual ceremonies on 30 June at EADS Germany's Manching site and BAE Systems' Warton factory marked the award of Eurofighter Typhoon type acceptance and entry into service of the multirole fighter.
Type acceptance is the formal acknowledgement that the aircraft meets the specification and is safe to fly. The German air force and UK Royal Air Force have received aircraft, with Italy and Spain due to receive Typhoons later this year.
Initial - Tranche 1 - aircraft are primarily for air defence, which the UK intends to declare to NATO in about 2006. Later models will be delivered with an increasing level of air-to-ground capability, starting with Tranche 2 in 2006-7.
All four air forces will initially operate from their respective national Eurofighter industrial partner. Instructors from the German air force's JG73 are at Manching while the two-seat Typhoon T1/As of the RAF's 17(R) Sqn will operate from Warton. RAF single-seat aircraft will be Typhoon F2s.
JG73 is due to move to Laarge in northern Germany in October while the RAFsquadron is expected to operate from Warton for 18 months before moving to RAF Coningsby in eastern England. In the UK, the Typhoon will initially replace the Panavia Tornado F3 and later the Sepecat Jaguar. Type acceptance means an RAF pilot will captain a Eurofighter flight for the first time this month.
German defence minister Dr Peter Struck confirmed during the ceremony that the fighter would replace Germany's Tornado IDSs as well as RSK MiG-29s and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms already earmarked for retirement.
UK defence procurement minister Lord Willie Bach said the award of type acceptance "is a momentous day for the programmeÉ a very big day for the RAF".
Adm Sir Michael Boyce, when retiring as UK chief of the defence staff earlier this year, suggested RAF Eurofighter numbers were to be cut from the planned 232. Bach says the four-nationmemorandum of understanding means the UK cannot reduce numbers without consulting the other partners, "and we haven't any intention of doing so at the moment".
Source: Flight International
