Typhoon Remains In Demand

Securing Tranche 3 was a victory of sorts for Eurofighter in production of the Typhoon: It guarantees additional work to 2016, but the procurement number is less than half of that originally agreed.

Wrapped in the fig leaf of a split-buy, London, rapidly made it clear that there was unlikely to be a further purchase commitment beyond Tranche 3A. Funding pressures and changing circumstances are working to undermine the offtake numbers of the umbrella contract.

While the Typhoon program exemplifies the vicissitudes of collaborative development, it is providing the four partner nations—Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.—with a highly capable and eventually multirole fighter platform, 200 of which have been delivered. The German air force deployed its aircraft for the first time in the Baltic air-policing role (DTI July/August 2009, p. 24), while Royal Air Force Typhoons have taken over air defense in the Falklands from the Tornado F3.

Given some good fortune, and adequate political and industrial support, the program could garner further export sales on top of the 72 going to Saudi Arabia and the 15 for Austria. Delivery to the Royal Saudi Air Force is underway.

The aircraft is one of six contenders for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft—it is due for in-country trials in April—and remains in the frame for Switzerland’s much smaller procurement. An anticipated request for proposals from Tokyo in the first quarter will formally start the purchase of up to 50 aircraft. Saudi Arabia continues to consider a follow-on buy, while Oman remains a regional candidate. Beyond this is a variety of opportunities of varying solidity.

Export customers could benefit from the binding service cost targets that were part of the Tranche 3A deal. These include a 50% cut in avionics support costs from 2009-14, growing to 70% from 2015 and beyond. The first Tranche 3 aircraft will be delivered in 2013.

The nascent Japanese competition will likely pitch the Typhoon against the Lockheed Martin F-35, with a Boeing platform—either an F/A-18E/F or F-15—also in the mix.

For those with big enough purses, the F-35 and Typhoon remain potentially complementary, rather than competitive, proponents of the latter argue.

In this force mix, the primary role of the Typhoon, ideally fitted with an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and Meteor rocket/ramjet-powered, active-radar-guided air-to-air missile, would be to provide air superiority, together with an air-to-surface capability. Conversely, the F-35 would provide a comparatively low-observable strike platform, as well as retaining an air-to-air role.

This is the template that is being pursued, broadly, in the U.K., Italy and (possibly) in Spain. It is also one that London is attempting to persuade Tokyo to buy into.

The AESA-Meteor mix—assuming the modeled performance is replicated in the real world—provides a potent counter-air capability. Marrying an air-breathing weapon with the extended detection range of AESA radar should provide the ability to engage targets at ranges well in excess of even the U.S. Raytheon AIM-120D.

It is this combination that the Eurofighter partners are looking to exploit in Japan and other key export targets.

One big issue, however, that needs to be resolved quickly is deciding on the design of—and integration plan for—an AESA. The four partners continue to try to agree on a common strategy. The U.K.’s swash-plate approach—allowing an angled antenna to be repositioned to overcome the limitations of a fixed array—is a candidate architecture. The U.K.’s Advanced Radar Targeting System program, test flown on a Tornado GR4A, is believed to have evaluated the swash-plate concept.

London is advocating the swash plate, and is garnering support among partner nations. There are alternatives—some in Germany say a fixed-antenna design offers a quicker development path. Availability irrespective of the design chosen is an issue for India and Japan.

Alongside agreeing on an AESA upgrade path for the platform, the partner nations are also aiming during 2010 to sign off on expanding the weapons integrated on the Typhoon.