Greece's key defence and foreign policy committee has issued instructions to the defence ministry to conclude a deal for the purchase of 60 Eurofighter Typhoons, with 30 options.
A meeting on 7 March of the committee, known as KYSEA, approved the deal and set aside DM10 billion ($4.9billion) of funding.
Significantly, the decision approves the deal ahead of Greek national elections on 9 April.
Eurofighter expects a final contract signature by the middle of this year, with deliveries starting in 2005 and stretching to 2009. Greece will be the first export customer for the Typhoon.
As the marketing effort gathers pace, tests on the aircraft continue as Eurofighter heads for the handover of the first fighter in 2002.
Severe environmental testing is in the process of being completed at the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency's (DERA) Boscombe Down test site. Trials started late last year with the two-seat Eurofighter DA6, operated by Spain's CASA.
DERA Boscombe Down environmental facilities manager Graham Stokes says that the Eurofighter has been subjected to a range of temperatures and humidity in the environmental test facility and to full-scale icing tests in a blower tunnel.
Stokes says that the most significant failure was experienced with the auxiliary power unit, which failed to start at extremely low temperatures. Its fuel-control unit has been modified and passed subsequent tests.
High-temperature effects have also been tested at the facility, during which the skin, and particularly the cockpit canopy, have been subjected to extreme heating from ultraviolet lamps.
Source: Flight International
