The Royal Air Force of Oman has taken delivery of its first Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
The arrival of the first aircraft, one of a batch of 12 scheduled to be delivered to Oman, was reportedly marked with a ceremony in the presence of the Commander of the Royal Air Force of Oman, Air Vice-Marshal Mattar bin Ali bin Mattar Al Obaidani, at Adam Air Base, Oman.
According to Eurofighter:
“The delivery follows an official roll-out event held on 15 May 2017 at BAE Systems’ site at Warton, UK, during which the first Typhoon aircraft was formally presented to the customer in front of an invited audience including His Excellency Sayyid Badr bin Saud al Busaidi, the Sultanate of Oman’s Minister Responsible For Defence Affairs (MRDA), and the Commander of the Royal Air Force of Oman.”
Oman is purchasing Typhoons as a replacement for its SEPECAT Jaguar aircraft. Through previous years Oman had remained interested in ordering Typhoons though the Saab JAS 39 Gripen was also being considered.
In December 2012, the Royal Air Force of Oman became the Typhoon’s seventh customer when BAE Systems and Oman announced an order for 12 Typhoons to enter service in 2017.
The first of the Typhoons ordered by Oman were, according to a BAE Systems’ press release, “formally presented to the customer” on the 15th of May 2017 in a ceremony we covered. The presentation included a flypast by a Royal Air Force of Oman Typhoon.
Need a Saudi follow on order to maintain the production line.
Fingers crossed
It really is a fine looking aircraft. Are there people out there who can give an honest comparison between it and the Rafale? Is it the dud people make it out to be or more than a match for most? I heard less than complimentary comments regarding its performance against the French fighter, which is also a fine looking bird. I’d quite like to see this developed further. Perhaps stretched and re-shaped moderately to incorporate internal carriage, perhaps dual tails, further stealth features and updated datalinks. I know its a pipe dream but I think its a great platform from… Read more »
You mean a F35 then?
I think realistically the only big upgrade will be the AESA radar (CAPTOR-E) but from what I’ve read of that it will be a big upgrade. One good aspect of the Typhoon apparently is that it has an unusually big nose cone and so the existing radar is already very good because it has space to be big. CAPTOR-E will also make full use of the space, and I read that it will keep the mechanical scan ability of the existing radar which, when you add the electronic scan capability of AESA, will give it a > 180 degree viewpoint… Read more »
There has been testing of a vectoring thrust modification also.
Also tested is the AMK (Aerodynamic Modification Kit) which is supposed to improve AoA performance and overall agility. By all accounts, it is a ‘big-bang for a very small buck’, so hopefully the MoD will put their hands in their pockets and fund it (I will give you all a minute to laugh!) – especially as now the Russians are bringing online their awesome Su-35s. Overall, Typhoon is an extremely potent aircraft and has the respect of the Americans who flew against it (ref. Ref Flag etc.,). Modifications coming should keep our noises in front of the Russians/Chinese but it’s… Read more »
Rafale and Eurofighter are pretty much equal. Both will eventually be upgraded with the new radar sets and more advance missiles. Both Rafale and Eurofighter have a combat edge over most Russian and Chinese jets except perhaps the su35 derivatives.
meteor/ asraam combination with new radars should ensure superior air to air bvr capability.