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Eurofighter Typhoon: Program in progress with aircraft acceptance imminent

Le Bourget, 01 June 2003

“It will only take a few weeks until the first Eurofighter Typhoon production aircraft will be officially handed over to the air forces of Germany, Spain and of the other nations”, said Aloysius Rauen, CEO of EADS Military Aircraft. “All tests and evaluations necessary for the acceptance by the customers — Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — have been performed and completed successfully and to the satisfaction of the four National Armament Directors.” According to Rauen, amongst these steps was the proof of the ‘hardening’ measures of Eurofighter aircraft against electro-magnetic (EM) radiation up to 200 Volts per meter: “This represents the highest degree of EM resistancy of any combat aircraft in the world”, Rauen stated. In addition, the first four production-standard aircraft have proven the contracted basic mass empty (BME), which is 11 tonnes, with the twin-seater having the contracted BME of 11.7 tonnes.

“The EADS Military Aircraft plant at Manching is going to deliver eight twin-seater Eurofighter production aircraft to the German Air Force (GAF) in 2003. This number includes GT 001, which since mid-February is already in use at the GAF Technical School at Kaufbeuren/Bavaria for ground-crew training. There, the first group of 30 GAF technicians has already finished the technical type-rating courses”, Rauen said. “And the Spanish Air Force will receive four aircraft until the end of 2003 from the Eurofighter production line at the EADS plant Getafe near Madrid”, he added.

In the four-national production program for the Eurofighter Typhoon, the manufacture of major components for the 110th aircraft is already in progress. Amongst these, EADS has started the final assembly of the first Spanish single-seater (PS001) in Getafe in February 2003, followed by the first German single-seater at Manching in early June.

Since early April the German Eurofighter System Support Center (SSC), a joint GAF-EADS installation based in Manching, has started operations. This national SSC will assist the GAF Eurofighter Wings from the beginning and is equipped with a ‘round-the-clock’ user-help desk. Core competence of the establishment will be the development, validation and implementation of software upgrade and modernisation for avionics and flight-control systems of the Eurofighter. Also in April, the Joint Integration Facility for the Aircrew Synthetic Training Aids (ASTA/JIF) at Manching has been inaugurated. The JIF with more than 100 employees from the four Eurofighter nations both from the Eurofighter parent companies and leading European simulator manufacturers, will design and produce a total of 18 full-mission simulators, nine interactive cockpit training systems including the external visual systems, four mobile cockpit trainers and numerous items of ancillary equipment. First fully-fledged ASTA systems will be delivered by the international JIF team from 2004 onwards.

“Based upon this visible progress, together with my colleagues in the Eurofighter consortium I’m absolutely convinced that the final negotiations for the 236 aircraft for Eurofighter Tranche Two between the customers organisation NETMA and industry will be concluded soon, and to the mutual interest of both organisations”, Rauen said.

EADS is a global aerospace and defence company and is the world’s second largest in terms of revenues, having achieved EUR 29.9 billion in 2002. EADS maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technology, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. It’s family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, the space company Astrium and MBDA, the world’s second largest missile company. EADS is the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft programme. The company has over 70 sites in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain. It is active in many regions worldwide, including the U.S., Russia and Asia.

Your contact:

EADS Military Aircraft
Wolfram Wolff
Tel: +49 (0)89 607-25711
Fax: +49 (0)89 607-22455
E-mail: wolfram.wolff@m.eads.net