An RAF Typhoon jet accelerates and climbs rapidly during a training sortie (library image) [Picture: Senior Aircraftman Andrew Seaward, Crown copyright]

13 December 2013 Ministry of Defence

One of the oldest squadrons in the Royal Air Force is to be re-equipped with the latest Typhoon jets.

The move is part of a transformation of the RAF’s combat air capability which will see battle-proven Tornado GR4 aircraft replaced by advanced Typhoon and F-35B Lightning II fighters.

Number 2 (Army Co-operation) Squadron, based at RAF Marham, celebrated 100 years of service in 2012 and its personnel are currently training for their next tour of duty early next year flying Tornado jets in Afghanistan.

After that, the unit will begin the process of swapping its Tornados for Eurofighter Typhoons and transfer to its new base at RAF Lossiemouth.

The move was announced by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Francois, who said the change was part of the planned realignment of the RAF’s long-serving Tornado Force, under which all GR4s will leave the service by 2019.

Mr Francois said:

Number 2 (AC) Squadron has the distinction of being one of the oldest fixed-wing flying squadrons in the world, having formed in 1912.

Since being equipped with Tornado aircraft in 1989 it has served with distinction on operations in Libya, the Balkans and Iraq and will complete its final tour of duty in Afghanistan in early 2014.

I can announce that it will formally disband as a Tornado squadron on 31 March 2015 and will re-equip to form a new front line Typhoon squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth the next day on 1 April 2015.

I am sure that Number 2 (AC) Squadron’s valuable contribution to operations throughout its long and distinguished history will continue as it helps maintain the strong traditions of RAF Lossiemouth as a main operating base for the RAF into the future.

The newly-reformed Number 2 (AC) Squadron will be the fifth front line RAF Typhoon squadron.

Nov 29, 2013 eurofighter.com

Eurofighter Partner Company Alenia Aermacchi has confirmed that the first in a major series of flight tests to integrate the MBDA Storm Shadow missile onto Eurofighter Typhoon has now taken place.

Initial flight trials to demonstrate that the missile can be safely carried have been successfully started.  The trials began on 27th November, by the Alenia Aermacchi Flight Test Centre at Decimomannu Air Base, in Sardinia, Italy, with the support of the Eurofighter Partner Companies, BAE Systems and Cassidian.

The intensive flight test programme  began with flutter tests and an air data system large store interference assessment, using Instrumented Production Aircraft 2 (IPA2) updated to the Phase 1 Enhancement standard.

The Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter GmbH, Alberto Gutierrez, said: “The successful start of the flight tests is good news for our programme. This is one of a number of enhancements that are coming on stream and there are many more to come. Storm Shadow is a major step forward significantly increasing the air-to-ground capabilities of the Eurofighter Typhoon.”

The Storm Shadow, already in service with the Italian Air Force and Royal Air Force Tornados, is a conventionally armed, stealthy, long-range stand-off precision weapon designed to neutralise high value targets. The new weapons systems will add the capability to strike in day or night in all-weather conditions, well-defended infrastructure targets such as port facilities, control centres, bunkers, missile sites, airfields and bridges that would otherwise require several aircraft and missions. This is a new addition to the Eurofighter Typhoon’s potent simultaneous multi-/swing-role capabilities.

Powered by a turbo-jet engine, with a range in excess of 250 km, the Storm Shadow missile weighs approximately 1.300kg and is just over 5 metres long. It will be available to operators from 2015 when the Eurofighter Typhoon Phase 2 Enhancements become operational.

Storm Shadow will provide a significant leap in the Eurofighter Typhoon’s operational capabilities, enabling the platform to deploy multiple weapons at a very long range well clear of danger from air defences.

Background information:

Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft currently available on the world market. Seven customers (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon. With 719 aircraft under contract and 571 on order, Eurofighter Typhoon is currently the largest military procurement programme in Europe. Its high technology strengthens the position of European aerospace industry in the international market. The programme secures more than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the programme on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies Alenia Aermacchi/Finmeccanica, BAE Systems and Cassidian in Germany and Spain, which are the most important aviation and aerospace companies in Europe with a turnover of about 126 billion euro (2012).

Since the first Typhoon entered service in 2003 , more than 390 Eurofighter have been delivered to six countries: Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia. The seventh customer, Oman ordered a total of 12 aircraft in December 2012. Until now, the combined Eurofighter fleet has completed more than 210,000 flying hours.

MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti)

Russia’s fifth-generation strategic and attack submarines will most likely be non-nuclear-powered, more compact and less “visible,” a senior designer at the Rubin design bureau said Monday.

Large nuclear-powered vessels, including Russia’s Typhoon-class strategic boats, have so far dominated past and current trends in combat submarine construction.

“I believe future submarines will be smaller, because of the use of more advanced technologies as well as the pursuit of more cost-effective production,” Sergei Sukhanov said in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti.

“The fifth-generation boat will also be less ‘visible’ compared with existing submarines. They could also feature a new power plant, including fully electric,” Sukhanov said, adding that changes could affect other sub-systems of future submarines.

The designer said the most likely substitution for a nuclear reactor on strategic and attack submarines would be an air-independent propulsion plant (AIPP), which would make them stealthier than nuclear-powered boats.

The AIPP allows a non-nuclear submarine to operate without the need to access atmospheric oxygen.

While a nuclear submarine’s reactor must constantly pump coolant, generating some amount of detectable noise, non-nuclear boats running on battery power or AIPP can be practically “silent.”

“The endurance of submarines with this type of propulsion should be sufficient [for patrol or strike missions] – for a month or even more,” Sukhanov said.

He said the construction of fifth-generation submarines in Russia could start in the next 10 to 15 years.

The Russian Navy currently relies on third-generation submarines, with fourth-generation subs of the Project 955 Borey class of strategic boats and Project 885 Yasen class of attack boats just beginning to be adopted for service.

Russia is planning to build eight Borey-class and eight Yasen-class submarines by 2020. They are expected to become the mainstay of the country’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet for at least two decades.

The first RAF Typhoon was delivered in 2003, with the total delivered since reaching 112 aircraft.

25 Sep 2013 By Ben Martin, and Graham Ruddick

BAE Systems has formally submitted a bid to build 60 Eurofighter Typhoon jets for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), stepping up its attempt to strike a deal that could support thousands of UK jobs and is vital for the company’s prospects.

The Typhoon programme, developed by BAE, Italy’s Finmeccanica and Airbus–maker EADS, suffered a major setback last year when it lost out to French company Dassault for a major contract to supply India with 126 fighter jets.

However, the aircraft has emerged as the favourite to win the UAE contract, which could be worth around £6bn and has been described as a “game-changer” by the chief executive of BAE, Ian King.

More than 5,000 people work on the Typhoon project in Britain for BAE, which is the country’s biggest defence contractor. Securing the UAE deal would be a major boost to the manufacturing sites in Lancashire where the fighter jet is constructed.

In a note, UBS, BAE’s house broker, said: “We estimate that this order could potentially be worth £6bn for the aircraft alone and multiples of that including training, support and weapons packages.”

The British company is leading negotiations with the UAE on behalf of the Typhoon consortium. The potential deal is also likely to include a technology-sharing agreement on unmanned aircraft.

It is thought that the process to decide which aircraft the UAE selects could take several months. Dassault is also in the running to supply the UAE with its Rafale jets.

Charles Armitage at UBS said that if a deal is agreed between BAE and the UAE, it could open the door for talks with India to be restarted. He said: “If UAE is signed, this could put pressure on India, which would be the only export customer for Rafale - nobody likes being the only export customer for a programme as it tends to reduce flexibility and increase the upgrade/maintenance costs – and could bring Typhoon back into the picture.”

The group’s chances of securing the order were bolstered by an alliance that was agreed last November, when David Cameron travelled to the Gulf to unveil a formal defence and industrial partnership between Britain and the UAE.

BAE shares closed up 2.3pc at 461.3p on hopes the UAE deal will be agreed.

September 8, 2013. David Pugliese - Defence Watch

News release from Eurofighter:

Eurofighter Typhoon has now achieved more than 200,000 flying hours since the entry-into-service of its worldwide fleet. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH confirmed the milestone today adding that, with 719 aircraft on contract, 571 aircraft ordered and 378 aircraft delivered, the programme has “never looked stronger”.

Alberto Gutierrez, Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH, said: “This impressive milestone underlines the outstanding track-record of the Eurofighter Typhoon. Today, our congratulations go to all the air forces who have achieved this target, to more than 100,000 employees in Europe who are involved in the development manufacturing and supply chain as well as to all the 400 companies who support us on a daily basis with their know-how and competences. This is indeed a proud day for all of them and a landmark day for Europe’s largest defence programme.”

The CEO added: “Every day our aircraft are protecting the skies in Europe, the Middle East and even in the Southern hemisphere. They are on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Eurofighter Typhoon is combat proven since the Libya operations and is now gaining considerable momentum – indeed the programme has never looked stronger. It has become the backbone of the Air Forces in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria. When the chips are down, air chiefs want an aircraft that is versatile, reliable, resilient and cost-effective. Eurofighter Typhoon fulfills all of these requirements and the operational experiences gained during these flying hours have proven it.”

The first 5,000 flying hours were achieved in November 2005. 10,000 hours came in August  2006 and 20,000 in May 2007. By August 2008, the Eurofighter Typhoon fleet had surpassed 50,000 hours and 100,000 flying hours was reached in January 2011.

The global Eurofighter fleet now comprises 20 operating units with locations in Europe, the South Atlantic and the Middle East. Specifically there are: 7 units in the UK (4 in Coningsby, 2 in Leuchars and 1 in Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands); 5 in Italy (2 in Grosseto, 2 in Gioia del Colle, 1 in Trapani); 3 in Germany (Laage, Neuburg and Nörvenich), as well as 3 in Spain (2 in Morón, 1 in Albacete) and one each in Austria (Zeltweg) and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – all of them have contributed to the 200,000 flying hour total.

Background information:

Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft currently available on the world market. Seven nations (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon. With 719 aircraft under contract and 571 on order, Eurofighter Typhoon is currently the largest military procurement programme in Europe. Its high technology strengthens the position of European aerospace industry in the international market. The programme secures more than 100,000 jobs in over 400 companies. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the programme on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies Alenia Aermacchi/Finmeccanica, BAE Systems and Cassidian in Germany and Spain, which are the most important aviation and aerospace companies in Europe with a turnover of about 126 billion euro (2012).

29 August 2013 Ministry of Defence

6 RAF Typhoon interceptor fast jets are being deployed to Akrotiri in Cyprus this morning.

As part of ongoing contingency planning, 6 RAF Typhoon interceptor fast jets are deploying this morning to Akrotiri in Cyprus.

This is a precautionary measure, specifically aimed at protecting UK interests and the defence of our Sovereign Base Areas at a time of heightened tension in the wider region. This is a movement of defensive assets operating in an air-to-air role only. They are not deploying to take part in any military action against Syria.

The Prime Minister has made clear no decision has been taken on the UK’s response to the situation in Syria and there will be a Commons vote before any direct military involvement.

#Typhoon test pilots begin #NightVisionGoggles trials - #UK #Defence #Aerospace #Optronics @BAESystemsplc #NVG http://t.co/njsy3bFoKi

RP Defense (@RPDefense)April 18, 2013