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Eurofighter receives four-nation type acceptance

Hertrich: "A significant day for the programme and an important step towards a joint European defence capability"

Munich/Manching, 30 June 2003

Eurofighter can now enter service. On Monday, the international type acceptance was officially granted for this combat aircraft in the presence of the defence minister of the Federal Republic of Germany and the deputy defence ministers from Great Britain, Italy and Spain at the Manching plant of EADS Military Aircraft. The agreements that have now been signed by the respective governments and NETMA, the management agency installed by them, on the one side and the Eurofighter consortium (EADS in Germany and Spain, Alenia in Italy and BAE Systems in the UK) on the other create the preconditions for the official start of Eurofighter deliveries to the air forces of the partner nations.

"Today is a day which everybody involved in the Eurofighter programme - both the customers and the manufacturers - has been working towards for years," said Rainer Hertrich, CEO of EADS. "At the same time, it represents a further important step towards a joint defence capability for our continent. Weapon systems such as Eurofighter are a reflection of the political will to provide a powerful peacekeeping and peacemaking instrument for the security structures of the European Union that are currently being created and also for the transatlantic alliance."

Hertrich underlined that EADS and the Eurofighter consortium would always be a reliable industrial partner to the four user air forces, both during delivery of the 620 production aircraft ordered to date and during the planned decades of operational use. "In this programme we are once again proud to be working for four of the most important air forces of the EU and NATO, who will from now on be operating Eurofighter as the backbone of their airborne defences," stated Hertrich.

Hertrich went on to explain that, following the initial learning curve effects that are usual in complex programmes, Eurofighter series production has now increased and is running at stable rates. Currently, main components are already being manufactured for the 110th aircraft of the 148 units that comprise the first production batch of Eurofighter aircraft. From its final assembly plant at Manching, EADS Military Aircraft will this year deliver a total of eight Eurofighter twin-seaters to the Luftwaffe - including aircraft GT001, which was made available to the German Air Force School of Engineering back in February 2003 for the training of maintenance and repair personnel. The Spanish Air Force is due to receive four production aircraft from the other EADS Eurofighter final assembly site at Getafe near Madrid by the end of the year. Having initially concentrated on the production of the twin-seaters required for pilot training - aircraft which also possess full operational capabilities - the two EADS final assembly lines have now also started building the single-seater Eurofighter aircraft that will form the major part of the operational units.

The Eurofighter System Support Center, which is located in Manching and is being run as a cooperative model by the Luftwaffe, the Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) and EADS, has been operating since April 2003. The System Support Center is to support those units of the German Air Force that have been equipped with Eurofighter aircraft, in particular in the areas of software updates and modernisation, and will provide a 24-hour user help desk. A centre for the development and production of the ground-based pilot training systems (ASTA) required for the in-service phase was also opened in Manching. This centre is to work on a four-nation basis as a joint undertaking by the members of the Eurofighter consortium and leading simulator manufacturers. It is here that the first instructors from the Luftwaffe's leading flight unit, Fighter Wing 73 "Steinhoff" stationed at Laage near Rostock, will carry out their conversion training on the interim training simulator developed by EADS Military Aircraft.

EADS is a global aerospace and defence company and is the world's second largest in terms of revenues, having achieved € 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.
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