UK Ministry of Defence,
The Royal Air Force has declared its Typhoon jets multi-role capable today. The RAF Typhoons can now carryout precision Ground Attack as well as Air Defence tasks. The declaration, which was made at the home base of the Typhoon Force, RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, represents a major milestone in the development of the state-of-the-art aircraft.
Commander-in-Chief of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Clive Loader said:
“The declaration of Typhoon being multi-role capable is a truly significant step in the development of this remarkable aircraft…This latest capability upgrade gives the Royal Air Force the most operationally flexible aircraft it has ever had.”
Typhoon aircraft took part in a very successful deployment to the USA in spring for trials and front-line training culminating in Exercise Green Flag, which is a large USAF and US Army exercise that involves Close Air Support to troops. The Typhoons proved their ability to deploy to environments that are representative of current operational theatres. During this deployment the aircraft demonstrated exceptional serviceability by achieving 99% of planned sorties.
A delighted Group Captain Stuart Atha, Station Commander of RAF Coningsby said at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada:
“What we have in Typhoon is a world-beating aircraft. The mantra in the RAF is, 'agile, adaptable and capable' and that is precisely what this aircraft is.” Talking about the ground attack role, he added: “You just have to look at the world today to see the relevance of the air-to-surface role, and hence it is really important that this aircraft should have this capability. Well we've done it; we have achieved it. The guys have demonstrated the capability, which is great news.”
Background Information
1. The Typhoon Multi-Role declaration is formally known as MR OED: Multi-Role Operational Employment Date.
2. Exercise Green Flag ran from 23rd May to 6th June this year at Nellis Air force Base, Nevada, USA. The exercise provides world class Close Air Support training for US and Allied forces in realistic combat environments.
3. Over a two-week period of pre-exercise training at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, a total of ten Typhoons from XI and 17(Reserve) Squadrons, dropped a total of 67 munitions, comprising 43 Paveway II bombs, eight enhanced Paveway IIIs and 16 1,000 lb free-fall bombs.
4. The Typhoon's first operational role started on 29th June 2007 when it assumed Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) South duties, which it shared at the time with Tornado F3 aircraft.
5. In January 2008 Typhoon achieved its planned Air Defence Operational Employment Date (ADX OED). In April 08 the Typhoon assumed complete responsibility for QRA(I) South and was declared deployable in the Air Defence role to NATO.
6. Typhoon is the result of a formal agreement in 1988 between the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain to develop an agile multi-role aircraft capable of being deployed in the full spectrum of air operations.
