Major Frode Evensen of the Royal Norwegian Air Force has become the first pilot from outside the four nations participating in the Eurofighter consortium to fly the EF2000 fighter, completing three sorties on 15-16 December. Evensen, a test pilot for Norway's Air Material Command, performed simulated air combat and air-to-air refuelling manoeuvresas part of the country's evaluation of theEF2000 for its advanced fighter requirement. The Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 is among Eurofighter's rivals for the contract. The flights were carried out using DaimlerChrysler Aerospace's (Dasa) second prototype aircraft, DA5, which is fitted with Eurojet EJ200 engines and the ECR90 radar. The aircraft is based at Dasa's Manching flight test centre north of Munich. EF2000 undertook a demonstration tour of Norway in June.
Source: Flight International
