As per our poll on Instagram on Wednesday, the Typhoon was chosen over the F-35 Lightning II for Aircraft Digest this week. The Eurofighter Typhoon II is a new fighter aircraft introduced to service in the British RAF in April 2006, it was meant to replace the Tornado, Harrier and Sea Harrier, it was a joint effort between the major aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Why was the Eurofighter project started?
The aircraft was developed as a counter to the Mig-29, as the Western European nations saw that the Mig-29 was more manoeuvrable than any aircraft currently in service with those nations at the time, manufactured by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, it was first flown on the 27 March 1994, and flew into service in 2006.
It initially saw some difficultly in production due to design compromises between the various nations, and such minuet discrepancies between production, like how one wing was made by Leonardo and the other by Airbus, which wasn’t a particularly smart decision combined with political issues between the collaborating nations, sufficiently protracted the development of the Typhoon.Â
The Eurofighter Typhoon was first flown on March 27 1994, being developed from the British Aerospace EAP. It was developed as an answer to the super-manoeuvrable Mig-29, which scared the major Western European powers. It is the only aircraft currently in service with these Western European powers which can effectively counter a potential attack from the Mig-29 and Su-27.
And since 2003, the Eurofighter Typhoon has entered service with: Austria, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. But it has also been purchased by Oman, Qatar and Kuwait, but they have not been delivered as of yet, the most recent numbers, from 2016, state that there have been 599 aircraft purchased and delivered.Â
Firepower
The Eurofighter Typhoon has an internal 27mm Mauser cannon (made in Germany), plus AIM-120 AMRAAM and ASRAAM air-to-air missiles (made in the United Kingdom). Combined with the Enhanced Paveway II and Paveway IV precision guided bombs. At the time of writing there are plans in the British RAF to add more weapons such as the Meteor air-to-air missiles and Storm Shadow and Brimstone air-to-ground missiles.Â
Pilots thoughts on the Eurofighter Typhoon
One of the pilots we recently interviewed said this: (I find) The thrust that the Typhoon has ferocious, something that I don’t personally think you can ever get fully used to. Although the G Force of the Eurofighter is absolutely brutal. The fact that you can ‘back stick’ the controls and know that the aircraft will limit the G. Meaning that you can pull straight to 9 G and trust me – it hurts every single time!
He also said that the canards don’t really obscure the vision of the pilot in the cockpit as some people may think. Despite some of the brutal elements to the Eurofighter Typhoon, the pilot we interviewed said that he likes the Eurofighter Typhoon, and would prefer it to many of the other aircraft he has flown in the past including the Tornado.Â
The Eurofighter Typhoon has a mission to the most superior aircraft in the sky, meaning that it needs to be more manoeuvrable and faster than its competitors, including the F-35 Lightning II and Sukhoi Su-57. Due to this, it is equipped with two Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofans with 20,227lbs of thrust in afterburner mode.
This makes it incredibly fast, with a top speed of 2,125km/h (1,324mph) and makes for an excellent interceptor aircraft, it has a maximum range of 3,705km (roughly 2,300 miles) when flying at the Eurofighter Typhoon’s ceiling of 16,764 meters (roughly 55,000ft). The radar on board the Eurofighter Typhoon is state of the art and can identify aircraft up to 70 miles away.
Thoughts about the Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is one of the worlds newest aircraft in the arsenals of European air forces and militaries. Despite this, it has already proven itself to those pilots who have flown it, that it can outpace and outcompete the Mig-29 and Su-57.
And how it can handle itself under immense pressure from the elements and from pilots and the manoeuvres the pilots put their aircraft under. The Eurofighter Typhoon is to (and has already in many ways) replaced the Tornado. Which was only retired in February 2019. But also the Harrier Jet which was retired in March 2010 by the RAF.Â