Summary and Key Points on Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter – The Eurofighter Typhoon, a 4.5-generation multirole fighter developed by a European consortium, stands as one of the world’s most capable non-stealth combat aircraft.
-Born from a multinational program in the 1980s, the Typhoon is a highly agile, Mach 2-capable jet armed with a versatile array of missiles and a 27mm cannon.
Taurus Missile on Eurofighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-It has a proven combat record with the British and Saudi air forces in Libya and against ISIS.
-Despite the rise of fifth-generation stealth jets, the Typhoon’s advanced avionics and powerful performance ensure it remains a formidable and sought-after fighter on the global stage.
Meet the Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter (Not Stealth, Sorry)
The original warplane bearing the name Typhoon was the World War II-era Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber of Great Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF). True to the atmospheric force of nature from whence it drew its name, the Hawker Typhoon indeed proved quite devastating to the infantry and armor columns of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht from D-Day to V-E Day.
The present-day warbird carrying on the Typhoon name is not merely a British-manufactured venture but rather a multinational project with three European countries involved in the manufacturing process and multiple European militaries adopting it, hence the highly apropos full name of Eurofighter Typhoon.
Eurofighter Typhoon Initial History
The Eurofighter traces its roots back to 1983, via the Future European Fighter Aircraft program, a consortium that partnered the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Due to internal squabbling over design authority and operational requirements, the French would eventually back out of the venture and instead develop the Dassault Rafale on their own, which in turn delayed progress on the multinational fighter.
Persistence would pay off, however, as the Eurofighter prototype finally made its maiden flight on March 27, 1994, and earned the Typhoon sobriquet in 1998. The first production contracts were signed that same year. The warbird was finally officially introduced on August 4, 2003. The end result was a twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. (One could say that the multirole capability carries on the versatile spirit and legacy of the Hawker Typhoon’s service as a fighter-bomber).
A UK Typhoon flies above the Baltics on 25 May 2022.
UK and Czech fighter jets have been taking part in air defence training over the Baltic region. UK Eurofighter Typhoons, F-35s and Czech Gripens were involved in an exercise as part of Neptune Shield 22 (NESH22), a multinational maritime vigilance activity. NESH22 has seen a range of multi-domain activities between air, land and maritime assets across Europe and in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. It runs from 17 to 31 May 2022.
The manufacturing consortium now consists of consortium involving Britain’s BAE Systems, France’s Airbus, and Italy’s Leonard S.p.A. Primary users are the RAF, Germany’s Luftwaffe, the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare), the Spanish Air and Space Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio), and the Austrian Air Force (Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte). However, the Eurofighter moniker certainly hasn’t precluded some non-European nations, namely the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, from obtaining the plane as well.
Over 600 airframes have been built thus far.
Technical Specifications and Vital Stats
Fuselage Length: 15.96 meters (52 feet 4.25 inches)
Wingspan: 11.09 meters (36 feet 4.25 inches)
Max Takeoff Weight: 51,809 pounds (23,500 kilograms)
Powerplant: 2 x Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofan engines, each generating 20,000 pounds-force (90 kilonewtons) of thrust
Max Airspeed: Mach 2 (1,522 mph, 2,450 km/h, 1,323 knots)
Ferry Range: 2,050 nautical miles (2350 statute miles, 3790 kilometers) with 3 × drop tanks)
Combat Range: 1,389 km (863 statute miles, 750 nautical miles)
Service Ceiling: 20 kilometers (65,000 feet)
Armament-wise, the variety of different ordnance types that the Eurofighter is capable of carrying could make our readers’ heads spin. Focusing on the RAF edition of the warbird—which they officially designate as the FGR4—the Brits arm it with the infrared Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) for the air-to-air role. For ground interdiction and close air support (CAS) missions, the FGR4 is compatible with GPS-guided Enhanced Paveway II and Paveway IV bombs, the Brimstone guided missile. Meanwhile, the 27 mm Mauser BK-27 cannon is ubiquitous amongst all users’ iterations of the fighter.
Operational History in Brief
Perhaps it’s apropos (given the aforementioned WWII legacy of the namesake) that the Eurofighter Typhoon was first “blooded” in real-world combat with RAF pilots at the controls. This happened in the skies over Libya in 2011, when the warbird was successfully deployed against the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s ground vehicles; the Brits would also use the FGR4 for ground-attack against the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL/Da’esh terror group in Syria starting in 2015.
Meanwhile, the Royal Saudi Air Force employed the Typhoon as a mainstay of its controversial bombing campaign against Houthi rebels; the Saudis also used the plane for Paveway strikes against Da’esh back in April 2015.
Thus far, the only known air-to-air engagement for the Eurofighter took place in December 2021, whereupon an RAF Typhoon shot down a “small hostile drone” over Syria with an ASRAAM, thus marking the first time the British military has downed another enemy aircraft since the 1982 Falklands War.
The Eurofighter Typhoon in 4 Words: She’s Not Going Anywhere
Being a 4.5 Generation fighter, the Gripen E isn’t quite as sophisticated as the 5th-Generation stealth fighters such as the F-22, F-35, J-20, and so forth (not to mention 6th Generation warplanes under development, including some with prospective hypersonic capabilities).
However, those 5th Generation planes have only started being tested in real-world combat fairly recently, so 4.5 Generation warbirds definitely won’t be going away overnight. And quite a few pundits argue that the Eurofighter is *THE* best fighter in the world, despite its lack of stealth technology.
The continued economic viability of the Eurofighter program was reaffirmed earlier this month when Germany announced that it was poised to grant final approval for the sale of 40 of the Typhoons to Türkiye. This would be quite a boon to the Turkish Air Force’s modernization efforts, as its current fleet of 240 American-made F-16 Fighting Falcons is getting a bit long in the tooth.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU).
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