WATCH: Nat Makepeace’s Typhoon display from inside the cockpit

This footage via BAE Systems takes you into the cockpit of Nat’s Typhoon during his display at this year’s Farnborough Air Show.

Nat Makepeace is a BAE Systems Typhoon test pilot.

The government announced last year that the life of Typhoon is to be extended into 2040 and that two additional squadrons will be created, giving a total of 7 front-line squadrons.

“We will be extending the life of our multirole Typhoon for 10 extra years through to 2040, meaning we will be able to create 2 additional squadrons. This will give us a total of 7 frontline squadrons, consisting of around 12 aircraft per squadron. We will also invest in their ground attack capability and fit them with a new Active Electronically Scanned Array radar to ensure they can continue to operate in hostile environments in the future.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Dunne, said previously that the Ministry of Defence had been reviewing its earlier decision to retire 53 Tranche 1 Typhoon combat aircraft in 2018.

Asked by Toby Perkins:

“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the consequences for the UK’s capability of the retirement in 2018 of the 53 Typhoon aircraft purchased in tranche 1; and if he will reverse this decision in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Strategic Review.”

Philip Dunne answered:

“The Ministry of Defence is reviewing the potential utility of all its current platforms, including its fleet of Tranche 1 Typhoon aircraft, as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review. Where there is clear merit in extending the life of existing equipment in terms of both military utility and value-for-money, the opportunity to do so will be considered in the context of the wider Review. It is therefore not appropriate to anticipate decisions on the Typhoon Tranche 1, or other capabilities, that have not yet been made.”

The RAF currently field 192 combat aircraft, made up of 87 Tornados; 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons; and 52 Tranche 2 and Tranche 3A Typhoons, deliveries of which are ongoing.