The Eurofighter Typhoon program is experiencing new fervor following the orders assigned by Germany and Spain, respectively for the Quadriga and Eurofighter EK programs (the electronic warfare and suppression of air defenses variant) and the Halcon I and Halcon II programs launched by the Air Force Aire y del Espacio for the replacement of part of the EF-18 Hornets, as well as for the developments of the AESA ECRS Mk 1 radars by Hensoldt and Indra and ECRS Mk 2 by BAE Systems and Leonardo UK.
Therefore, the aircraft is getting new life and with the new Tranche 4 and the still mentioned Tranche 5 of the Halcon II program it will have significantly improved operational capabilities and will constitute the operational and technological bridge between the current class of 4.5th + generation aircraft and the new FCAS/SCAF (France, Germany and Spain) and GCAP (Japan, Italy and United Kingdom) fighter aircraft belonging to the 6th generation.
Precisely to allow this “soft” transit, several innovations are being studied, not least equipping the Eurofighter with the ability to operate with CDs. loyal wingman, a program run in the UK and Germany; In fact, Airbus, as part of the “Manned-Unmanned Teaming Program” (M-UTM) launched for the FCAS/SCAF, is studying and developing technologies that have already proven to be mature for use with the Eurofighters. The CDs. loyal wingman are aircraft that are born as remotely piloted aircraft, controlled by a piloted fighter-bomber and which are destined to evolve into aircraft guided by Artificial Intelligence algorithms, constituting real force multipliers for the Air Forces that will have them equipped .
In this context, the Air Forces that are equipped with the Eurofighter Typhoons (including the Air Force) have ongoing programs for the modernization of Tranches 2 and 3, for the acquisition of newly produced Tranches and are evaluating extending their operational life, considering that the aircraft have proven to be fully suitable to tackle the increasingly demanding tasks entrusted and have considerable growth potential, thanks to the adoption of the electronically scanned radar (AESA), the strengthening of the electronic warfare and protection system, and the adoption of new weapon systems that increase their combat capabilities in both air superiority and surface interdiction.
Among the four founding countries of the Eurofighter consortium, the United Kingdom has long taken decisions regarding the imminent decommissioning of Tranche 1 of which only a few examples will remain available and to modernize only forty Tranche 3 with the adoption of the ECRS Mk 2 radar of which the prototype is undergoing ground tests.
Considering that the modernization of the forty Typhoons with the new radar will start no earlier than 2028 and will end during the following decade and given that the GCAP program carried out with Japan and Italy will see the first operational aircraft between the 1930s and 1940s, the need arises for the Royal Air Force to rethink the near future of the line, also evaluating the extension of the operational life whose end was expected in 2040, given that for a long time longer than previously estimated the Typhoons will have to coexist with the aircraft resulting from the GCAP program, with which they will share part of the technologies whose development has begun.
Therefore, according to what was communicated by BAE Systems, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (UK MoD) is currently evaluating to extend the life of the Typhoons until 2060; evidently, in addition to the forty Tranche 3s planned so far, the program should concern part or all of the sixty-seven Tranche 2s available today which, moreover, to remain in service for so long and with credible operational capabilities, would have to be modernized in the radar component; currently, it is reiterated that this (crucial) step is not foreseen.
Unlike Germany and Spain which have launched programs for the construction of new Tranches (as well as the modernization of Tranche 3), with Italy which seems on the verge of starting its own program for new Eurofighters, the United Kingdom does not appear to want to purchase newly built examples.
What is certain is that in the Eurofighter consortium scenarios are foreseen with at least seventy-four new Eurofighters to be produced for the participating countries (of which 15 are the German EKs) and another 130 for the foreign market with other examples for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, as well as with Egypt and Turkey seen as potential new customers.
Photo @Royal Air Force
