The first of the latest Tranche 3 Eurofighter Typhoon made its maiden flight from BAE Systems Warton, Lancashire assembly line. British Sin...
The Tranche 3, represents a major stepping stone in the evolution of Typhoon and will allow it to take on additional capability in the future including e-scan radar, conformal fuel tanks and a high speed data network.
The first Tranche 3 has been produced for the Royal Air Force by the Eurofighter consortium and assembled by BAE.
Mark Kane, BAE Systems Managing Director - Combat Air said: “For casual observers the aircraft is little changed from its sleek predecessor but it has a number of provisions that will allow it to take on additional capability in the future. One of the few visual clues is a number of small panels on the fuselage which are there to accommodate the fitting of conformal fuel tanks.
“Once fitted, these would give the aircraft greater range and free up positions under the aircraft for larger or additional weapons.
“At the nose a new internal structure has been built and work has been carried out on power, cooling and electronics so that a new E-Scan radar could easily be accommodated.”
In November the first in a major series of flight tests to integrate the MBDA Storm Shadow missile onto the aircraft took place. Earlier this year Eurofighter Typhoon announced a contract to develop the integration of the Meteor weapon system.
During the same period another development aircraft has been modified to take an E-Scan radar and is currently being prepared, at Warton, ahead of its first flight.
Under the Tranche 3A contract signed in 2009, a total of 112 aircraft have been ordered for the four European partner nations of Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, with 40 aircraft bound for the Royal Air Force.
Powered by two Eurojet EJ200 engines Typhoon is a multi-role aircraft which can switch easily between being a fighter aircraft as well as a bomber aircraft and can pull up to 9gs..
