Ministers from the four Eurofighter programme nations - Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK - have given their renewed support to the integration of an active electronically scanned array radar, according to partner company BAE Systems.
The backing was provided during a meeting held this month, said Peter Anstiss, board member for BAE's Military Aircraft and Information business unit.
"The programme is continuing," said Anstiss. "We and Selex Galileo have got engineers on it, and they are working to a programme supported by the four nations. The funding for that is anticipated."
Speaking about the development at BAE's Warton site in Lancashire on 25 May, Anstiss said: "If you look at the strength of conviction of ministers and chiefs of air staff, everyone is consistently talking about the capabilities of AESA, and radar integration. There is no wavering around that. It leaves us feeling very positive about the future upgrades that we need to meet export demand and that of the customer nations."
The integration of an electronically scanned radar and other new equipment, including MBDA's Meteor beyond visual-range air-to-air missile, forms a key part of efforts to sell the Typhoon to nations including India.
Meanwhile, BAE in mid-May delivered the 100th production Eurofighter to have been completed at its Warton final assembly facility. The site has produced aircraft for both the UK and Saudi Arabia, with the centenary aircraft (below) having been single-seat example BS74 for the former's Royal Air Force.
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Current activities at Warton cover the assembly of 25 aircraft a year, said Martin Topping, BAE's head of Typhoon final assembly.
Source: Flight International
