Eurofighter GmgH, HALLBERGMOOS, Germany: The combined fleet of 135 in-service Eurofighter Typhoons and seven Flight Test aircraft has accumulated over 35,000 flying hours by the end of December 2007. Since introduction into service in Spring 2004, the five customer Air Forces, including, since Summer 2007, Austria have achieved 30,650 flying hours. An amazing 50 % of this amount was flown in 2007, demonstrating the tremendous growth of the in-service fleet.
The build-up of flying hours in the Nations' Air Forces reflects the success of integrating the weapon system into their Armed Forces and, increasingly, highlights the importance of Eurofighter Typhoon for NATO air defence responsibilities. Following Italy and the United Kingdom, Germany has, from the beginning of 2008, commenced Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) operations with Eurofighter Typhoon at Neuburg. Spain is to follow soon.
With the six Development Aircraft retired following conclusion of their scheduled tasks, the test fleet of seven Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) and one Instrumented Series Production Aircraft (ISPA, BT005 of the Royal Air Force) are now the main assets to take the weapon system's capabilities to new frontiers. The latest addition, IPA7, is the first Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoon and will be flown alongside IPA6 in the test programme to achieve the clearances for Tranche 2 Type Acceptance and Further Enhancements.
This means even more capabilities for Eurofighter Typhoon with more benefit to the customer. The test fleet has accumulated over 5,600 flying hours since Development began.
Eurofighter Typhoon is the world's most advanced new generation swing-role combat aircraft available on the market and has been ordered by six nations (Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). With 707 aircraft under contract, it is Europe's largest military collaborative programme and delivers leading-edge technology, strengthening Europe's aerospace industry in the global competition.
More than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies are secured by the programme. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the programme on behalf of its shareholders Alenia Finmeccanica, BAE Systems, EADS CASA and EADS Deutschland, Europe's foremost aerospace companies with a total turnover of EURO 60.7 billion (2006).
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