Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH, EUROJET Turbo GmbH and NETMA, the NATO Eurofighter & Tornado Management Agency, have signed contracts together worth €53.7 million to support the long-term development of the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft.
The study contracts, which look at the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the aircraft and the EJ200 engine, will span a total of 19 months for the aircraft and 9 months for the engine elements say the firms.
Herman Claesen, CEO of Eurofighter, said:
“These contracts represent a significant step in shaping the future of Eurofighter and will ensure it continues to be one of the most important assets in the future operating environment.”
NETMA General Manager, General Salvestroni, said:
“We are delighted to begin a new chapter in the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The LTE study contracts will set out a clear road map for the future of the platform that will make it relevant and resilient for decades to come.”
The high technology areas being explored include, according to a news release:
Mission System Architecture: The Eurofighter Typhoon already has one of the world’s most advanced Electronic Warfare systems. The LTE study will reinforce this by supporting the generation, transmission and utilisation of ever-increasing amounts of digital data both onboard (via advanced multi-spectral sensors) and offboard (via high performance tactical datalinks), whilst remaining resilient to new and emerging threats, including cyber. This will maintain Eurofighter’s ability to operate in the highly contested and congested future operating environment.
The Praetorian Defensive Aids Sub System (DASS): Looking at potential future DASS requirements out to 2050, enabling Typhoon to cope faster, easier and more affordably with new requirements to counter threats as they arise in the future.
The Human-Machine Interface: Refreshed cockpit displays and controls which will enable more demanding missions in the future, whilst ensuring full interoperability with cooperating assets in the air and over land and sea.
Operational Flexibility: Applying new adaptive power and cooling techniques and facilitating the agile integration of advanced weapons, thereby enabling more flexible store configurations to be flown.
Engine Performance: In terms of the EJ200 engine, the focus is on four key areas: thrust growth; range and persistence with increased parts life; survivability as well as control system enhancements.
Clemens Linden, CEO of EUROJET, said:
“Together with further life extension measures and the development of a future maintenance strategy based on in-service experience, the LTE contracts are the first step towards ensuring that Eurofighter’s combat strength can be maintained and fully exploited throughout the first half of the 21st century.”
As a question to those with the knowledge, which is the better plane:
Typhoon
Rafale
The two aircraft are incredibly well matched with each having a slight advantage over the other in specific areas meaning that having both on the asset list as a single power would prove phenomenal, but will not happen.
In the end Typhoon has the ever so slight advantage with the superior EJ200 engine that the French refused to have. The EJ200 is cheaper to maintain, boasts superb reliability and still has additional power development to give which the French engine does not.
Many thanks
The Typhoon can also supercruise with a decent weapon load, whereas the Rafeal/Rafale/Rafeal cannot. The Rafale still has the edge as a ground attack aircraft, due to its larger inventory. But the Typhoon has the edge in air to air combat. This is because it has a better power to weight ratio, so bleeds off less speed when doing sustained turns. This area is vitally important for both beyond visual and within visual range engagements, when you just want to shoot and scoot.
Rafale can supercruise at mach 1.4, and engine thrust to weight ratio figures alone mean nothing, you also need to consider lift to drag as well as thrust to drag ratios. Rafale has less drag and doesn’t need as much thrust for the similar result. The notion that the rafale is a bomb truck and that the typhoon is superior is air to air is very questionnable and been debunked in exercies where the 2 fighters faced off. In fact the 2 planes have fought each other twice in air to air exercises, in Solenzara 2007 and ATLC 2009 .… Read more »
In some respect horses for courses. The Rafale performed poorly in two competing competitions against Typhoon. The first was India and the Second was in Singapore. On both occasions with a realistic weapons load the Rafale could not supercruise. This have been down to the humidity, but by contrast the Typhoon could still supercruise a Mach 1.2. Two key problems with the India sell was, Eurofighter/Eurojet would not agree to technology transfer and France seriously underbid their aircraft.
I agree Rafale is a good aircraft, but today’s Typhoon even with the legacy Captor radar has the edge.
Sorry but this is plain wrong
1. Singapore, F15 won the bid. the 2 finalists were F15 and Rafale. Typhoon was eliminated in earlier rounds. How you characterize that as a win for typhoon vs rafale is incredulous
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/singapore-drops-eurofighter-from-critical-contract-0401/
2. Rafale beat Typhoon for Indian Air Force deal. Rafale sold 36 planes for €8b (hardly selling them at a loss, in fact many in India complain it’s too expensive). There is no tech transfer since they are built in France and delivery is to start in sept 2019. Furthermore, India is currently discussing buying more planes, details tbd. Again how does that make typhoon better in your eyes?
3. Rafale can supercruise at mach 1.4 with a loadout of 6 MICA or 4 MiCA and a drop tank , see page 8 af article https://web.archive.org/web/20071122095016/http://www.dassault-aviation.com/fileadmin/user_upload/redacteur/AUTRES_DOCS/Fox_three/Fox_Three_nr_8.pdf
4. Rafale’s Thales RBE2 (Aesa) radar is far superior to the Typhoon Captor (Pesa) radar. It’s like comparing a computer today with one 10 years ago, simply not in the same league
But if facts bore you, maybe you should read what a RAF pilot has to say about Rafale. Peter Collins was a Red Arrow squadron leader, and had the opportunity to test fly the Rafale. I think we can both agree that this is an expert opinion, not a keyboard warrior.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/flight-test-dassault-rafale-rampant-rafale-334383/
Hi Gandalf, can I bore you with some facts…. 1. The late Pete Collins was originally a Harrier pilot, flew GR1 Tonkas, and developed the Hawk with the digital flight control system that could be programmed to mimic any aircraft’s flight characteristics, then went on to the Sparrows. He did not fly a Typhoon, so a like for like comparison is impossible in this context. 2. The Typhoon’s Captor-M is not a PESA radar. It is a multi-mode pulse doppler radar using a flat plannar array with active side lobe suppression. The RAF’s Typhoon radar requirement was for a radar… Read more »
Have you flown either jet? At least recognize that Peter Collins’s opinion is certainly worth more than yours and mine combined? I do not agree with you on the radar. Aesa has many other advantages especially in EW. I will respectfully leave it at that. However i do agree that the ej2000 has superior performance over the m88. There is no doubt on that. The only advantage that the m88 has is a lower heat signature. As for maintenance costs it is hard to know since there seems to be a lot of fudging the numbers and misleading announcements. For… Read more »
I have not flown in either jet, so can only go on comments made by friends from 1 and 29 Sqns, who have “played” with Rafales. It may be down to bravado or the pilot on the day. However, they always say the Rafale is a brilliant aircraft, just not a Typhoon. I know one of the pilots who was part of the team that went to Singapore. If you’d like, we could discuss Radar and EW further, especially the spoofing and jamming functions that came with AESA in particular. It almost came as a surprise on how well an… Read more »
farouk – when Qatar receives its compliment of both Fighters perhaps they will be best placed to answer that question – to my knowledge no-one else is scheduled to operate both.But for now id say Rafale had the edge out of the box as a Multi-role Fighter while Typhoon had the edge in the Air Superiority role with a slowly maturing Air to Ground capability.But hard to say for sure,you have Training,Doctrine and Weaponry to factor in too.
Ta
Yes I think cost issues, dithering but mostly down to its prime users having the specialist Tornado in their fleet the Typhoon has suffered a little in terms of multi role and ground attack by the, by comparison, lesser portfolio of weapons available to it. As it replaces Tornado this is clearly rapidly changing and now that they are getting serious about it we will spree the true potential of the airframe and engine come to the fore as a true multi role aircraft bursts free from its shell.
Considering Typhoon still does not have AESA, rafale has the edge currently. But this will be addresed in the next couple of years. At the end of the day each fighter is very comparable, considering both RAF and French pilots are some of the best trained in the world and they complement their training in the US, it’s neck and neck. Anyway these comparisons are an excercise in futility since they are very evenly matched airframes and weaponry, not to mention that the UK and France will not go into war against each other, even after Brexit ? As far… Read more »
Any ideas when the AESA radar is actually going to be delivered? I though it was going to be delivered on the Kuwait Typhoons. I’m beginning to doubt if it will ever be delivered to the RAF after we’ll over a decade of development.
The kuwait typhoons with aesa (captor E) were supposed to be delivered this year, but that deadline was missed. At the earliest they are aiming at 2020 for delivery.
No clue as to when the RAF will see their first AESA updates, hopefully before Rafale start getting the F4 upgrades in 2023
It’s actually quite sad to see the slow progression of updates on Typhoon, it really deserves more love. The issues seem to be more political than technical!
I hope RR keep a few development tricks up the proverbial sleeve given they and their Spanish subsidiary ITP own 46% of Eurojet and the Italian firm Avio (owned by UK firm Cinven and Leonardo) own a further 21% so they decide who gets what. The EJ200 (renamed the XG-40 by any chance?) or developments thereof will be the basis for at least the early production run of Tempest so we need to keep as much as we can for our use not have it taken by Airbus and given to SNECMA via Dassault. There are no friends in this… Read more »
Some news on the delivery schedule for the radar can be found in this link.
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2019-06-17/can-typhoon-still-win-orders-era-f-35
“AESA technology could migrate to electronic warfare equipment”
https://www.janes.com/article/89293/aesa-technology-could-migrate-to-electronic-warfare-equipment
Plenty still to come for Typhoon if we continue to invest.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/eurojet-pushes-thrust-vectoring-technology-for-typhoon-333501/
An informative article on the typhoon aesa here:
https://www.monch.com/mpg/news/ew-c4i-channel/4578-ef-radar.html