Two UK Royal Air Force Typhoons are leaving Singapore today at the conclusion of the service's first overseas deployment of the type, which also marks the aircraft's first deployment outside Europe. They are expected to arrive back in the UK on Friday.
Two aircraft left BAE Systems' Warton site on 27 June for the deployment, taking advantage of the newly cleared inflight refuelling probes to make the journey in just four hops, instead of the 15 that would have been required had air-to-air refuelling not been available.
The aircraft routed via Akrotiri in Cyprus, Al Dhafra in the UAE, and Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka, and arrived at Paya Lebar on Friday 2 July.
Original
One of the original pair of aircraft suffered a minor unserviceability at Akrotiri (blowing a relay during post-flight servicing) though this was slow to diagnose and the 'ground spare' left Warton for Akrotiri on 29 June. The fault had been repaired by the time the spare aircraft had been despatched from Warton.
The deployment to Singapore built on an extremely successful start to the Case White programme, under which the Typhoon's initial introduction to service is being undertaken at Warton, before a transition to RAF Coningsby next year.
At Warton, 17 (Reserve) Squadron is flying Operational Test and Evaluation sorties, while 29 (Reserve) Squadron prepares for its role as the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit, and validates the training syllabus for frontline pilots.
Despite the inevitable minor teething problems, Case White has reportedly exceeded expectations, sometimes amassing flying hours at double the planned rate, and all of those exposed to the new aircraft seem full of optimism and enthusiasm.
A senior officer from RAF Strike Command says: "The reliability and raw performance of the aircraft are awesome - truly stunning, and the aircraft has exceeded our expectations in many areas. The radar, for example, has delivered everything we could have hoped for."
Anticipated
The 100th Case White sortie was flown earlier than anticipated on 2 April, when No 17 Squadron's Flt Lt Matt Elliott made his first solo flight in the aircraft. By early June, Case White had achieved 232 sorties - against a stretch target of 212 - outflying the target by 9%.
The two aircraft deployed to Singapore for an in-country evaluation by Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), as part of the Next Fighter Replacement programme. The aircraft is being evaluated against the Dassault Rafale and the Boeing F-15T.
The RAF deployment covered the journey to Singapore and the return, while pilots for the evaluation have been provided by BAE Systems.
Singapore has effectively gagged those bidding to meet its Next Fighter Replacement programme (also known as the Next Generation Fighter programme), insisting that they reveal nothing about their submissions or the evaluation process, and as a result, industry politely but firmly refuses to discuss the deployment.
The in-country evaluation is the final element in what has been a long and exhaustive process.
Singapore is expected to announce its decision later this year, and the first eight aircraft (of 20-24) are to be delivered during 2008-9, replacing Singapore's fleet of McDonnell Douglas/ST Aero A-4SU Super Skyhawks.
JON LAKE
Source: Flight Daily News
