Eurofighter Typhoon Logs Over 35,000 Flying Hours

(Hallbergmoos, January 24, 2008) -- 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 were 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.

Source : Eurofighter