The United Kingdom is considering the option of retaining some or all of its early-model Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft as it looks to prevent fighter numbers falling to their lowest levels since the Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed in 1918.
Speaking in the House of Commons on 3 November, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Dunne, said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is currently reviewing its earlier decision to retire the 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons in 2018. While he said that this work is being done in anticipation of the upcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), he declined to be drawn on when a decision might be announced.
"The Ministry of Defence is reviewing the potential utility of all its current platforms, including its fleet of Tranche 1 Typhoon aircraft, as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review. Where there is clear merit in extending the life of existing equipment in terms of both military utility and value-for-money, the opportunity to do so will be considered in the context of the wider review. It is therefore not appropriate to anticipate decisions on the Typhoon Tranche 1, or other capabilities, that have not yet been made," he said.
The minister's comments come on the back of a government disclosure in July that the UK's frontline fast-jet force is set to fall to its lowest numerical strength just ahead of the turn of the decade, with the almost simultaneous retirement of both the Panavia Tornado GR.4 and Tranche 1 Eurofighter Typhoon fleets in 2019.
The RAF currently fields 192 frontline combat aircraft, made up of 87 Tornados; 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons; and 52 Tranche 2 and Tranche 3A Typhoons (deliveries of which are ongoing). Although all 40 Tranche 3A Typhoons should be with the RAF by 2019 and deliveries of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter will have begun, under current plans the UK will have just 127 frontline combat jets in 2019 - the lowest number since the RAF was formed more than a century earlier.
THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF ACQUIRING USED TYPHOONS FROM UK & LATER FROM OTHER EU USERS. THESE CAN BE UPGRADED LATER.
Air Platforms
UK fighter numbers to reach all-time low with loss of Tornados and early Typhoons in 2019
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
21 July 2015
The UK's frontline fast-jet force is set to fall to its lowest numerical strength just ahead of the turn of the decade, with the almost simultaneous retirement of both the Panavia Tornado GR.4 and early model Eurofighter Typhoon fleets, the government disclosed on 21 July.
Answering questions in the House of Commons, Philip Dunne, Minister for Defence Equipment, Support, and Technology said that the retirement of the Tornados is to coincide with that of the Tranche 1 Typhoons in 2019.
Currently, the Royal Air Force (RAF) fields 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons and 87 Tornados which, when coupled with the Tranche 2 and 3A Typhoons now flying, brings its frontline combat inventory up to 192 aircraft. Although the loss of 140 aircraft by 2019 represents a 77% reduction in the current force strength on paper, it should be noted that this will be offset somewhat by the continued delivery of the Tranche 3 Typhoons, as well as the arrival of the first Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters.
Even so, while all 40 Tranche 3A Typhoons should be with the RAF by 2019, the United Kingdom is expected to have received only about 15 to 20 F-35Bs by this time (to be operated by both the RAF and Royal Navy). When the loss of the Tornados and Tranche 1 Typhoons is taken into account, the United Kingdom will be left with about 127 frontline combat jets at best when this happens (the lowest number that the RAF will have fielded since its creation in 1918).
Notwithstanding the fact that at that early point in its service the F-35 will likely not be fully combat capable (the Block 3F [full combat capability] software is slated to be rolled out in late 2017, but the United Kingdom is not due to declare full operating capability [land and maritime] for the type until 2023). To date, only the first 14 operational F-35Bs have been authorised (of which four have been ordered), and while overall numbers have not yet been disclosed there is a possibility that the original planned order for 138 aircraft may be truncated to just 48 for the new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.
If this were to occur, the UK frontline fast-jet fleet would number just 107 Tranche 2 and 3A Typhoons and 48 F-35Bs, for a grand total of 155 combat aircraft. While this could be increased with the 48 additional Typhoons earmarked for a Tranche 3B buy, this now seems all but certain not to happen.
While there is some validation to the argument that, because the Tranche 2 and 3A Typhoons and the F-35Bs are more capable aircraft than those that came before them, fewer will be needed, it is also true that no aircraft, no matter how capable, can be in more than one place at any time. This has been shown by the government's recent decision to slow down the pace of the Tornado retirement, even reconstituting an already disbanded unit, to ensure that simultaneous operational commitments in three theatres (Afghanistan, Iraq, and North Africa at that time) could be met.
The United Kingdom currently faces a number of threats to its security that require the application of combat aircraft, either in a kinetic warfighting role, as over Iraq and no doubt soon over Syria, or in a deterrent role, such as with the Baltic Air Policing missions currently being flown to ward off Russian aggression against NATO allies. With at least one of these threats only recently having been described by the UK prime minister, David Cameron, as "generational", and the other not likely to be resolved anytime soon, the further loss of UK airpower at such a precarious time as this seems somewhat perverse.
One solution to this quandary might be not to retire the Tranche 1 Typhoons at all, after all a 16-year service life - given the investment that has been made - does not appear to provide value for money or to make much sense. Although there will certainly be a cost implication of retaining the Tranche 1 Typhoons in service, this would be relatively small given that all of the initial investment has already been made, and that the training, operating, and sustainment infrastructures are already in place and are set to serve the wider Typhoon force through to the 2030 out-of-service date now earmarked for the Tranche 2 and 3A aircraft.
While it is true that the early-model Typhoons are not compatible with many of the hardware and software upgrades that would be needed to afford them a full multirole capability, they remain highly potent air-to-air fighter platforms and should be able to more than match any adversaries that they might meet in this arena for a number of years yet.
There is no physical reason why these 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons could not be retained in service out to 2030. While they will never match the outright capabilities of their more modern stablemates, a rolling programme of upgrades to their systems, such as the already very capable Captor mechanically-scanned radar, should at the very least afford the United Kingdom with a highly potent force multiplier to relieve some of the pressure from the newer Typhoons and Lightning IIs.
Air Platforms
UK considering retaining early model Typhoons to maintain fighter numbers
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
03 November 2015
The United Kingdom is considering the option of retaining some or all of its early-model Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft as it looks to prevent fighter numbers falling to their lowest levels since the Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed in 1918.
Speaking in the House of Commons on 3 November, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Dunne, said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is currently reviewing its earlier decision to retire the 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons in 2018. While he said that this work is being done in anticipation of the upcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), he declined to be drawn on when a decision might be announced.
"The Ministry of Defence is reviewing the potential utility of all its current platforms, including its fleet of Tranche 1 Typhoon aircraft, as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review. Where there is clear merit in extending the life of existing equipment in terms of both military utility and value-for-money, the opportunity to do so will be considered in the context of the wider review. It is therefore not appropriate to anticipate decisions on the Typhoon Tranche 1, or other capabilities, that have not yet been made," he said.
The minister's comments come on the back of a government disclosure in July that the UK's frontline fast-jet force is set to fall to its lowest numerical strength just ahead of the turn of the decade, with the almost simultaneous retirement of both the Panavia Tornado GR.4 and Tranche 1 Eurofighter Typhoon fleets in 2019.
The RAF currently fields 192 frontline combat aircraft, made up of 87 Tornados; 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons; and 52 Tranche 2 and Tranche 3A Typhoons (deliveries of which are ongoing). Although all 40 Tranche 3A Typhoons should be with the RAF by 2019 and deliveries of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter will have begun, under current plans the UK will have just 127 frontline combat jets in 2019 - the lowest number since the RAF was formed more than a century earlier.
Air Platforms
Airbus trials aerodynamic enhancements for Eurofighter Typhoon
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's International Defence Review
15 July 2015
Airbus Defence and Space (DS) has completed flight-testing of a package of aerodynamic upgrades to the Eurofighter Typhoon that are geared at enhancing the combat aircraft's agility and weapons-carrying ability, the company announced on 15 July.
The flight trials of the Aerodynamic Modification Kit (AMK) were part of the wider Eurofighter Enhanced Manoeuvrability (EFEM) programme that is looking to maintain the Typhoon at the forefront of combat capabilities over the coming years.
According to Airbus DS, the AMK comprises additional fuselage strakes and leading-edge root extensions that are designed to increase the maximum lift created by the wing by 25%. This, the company said, afford an increased turn rate for improved nose-pointing ability at low speed. As well as improving the Typhoon's dogfighting capabilities, these enhancements will enable the aircraft to carry a greater array of both air-to-air and air-to-surface weaponry.
In a statement, Eurofighter project pilot Germany Raffaele Beltrame said that the flight trials had yielded some better-than-expected results, with the angle-of-attack capability being 45% greater than that of the unmodified aircraft, and roll-rates up to 100% higher. The flight trials followed around five years of studies, with Eurofighter test pilots and operational pilots from Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom conducting 36 sorties from Manching, Germany, on the Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) 7.
The AMK is not the first modification that has been proposed for the Typhoon with the goal of improving its close-quarter aerial combat capabilities to better counter the new generation of fighters, such as the Sukhoi Su-35 'Flanker-E'. In 2009 Eurojet was touting thrust-vectoring for the twin EJ200 engines as a means of imparting greater manoeuvrability. The problem, however, was that none of the partner nations was willing to fund such an enhancement, and so the concept was not adopted.
The passive nature of the AMK modifications would offer a much cheaper solution, while delivering pretty much the same effect. It should be noted, though, that with a
g-limit of +9 and -3, the Typhoon is already one of the most agile fighters in service, and there is not too much more in the way of manoeuvrability that can be tweaked into the platform without incapacitating the pilot. However, where this system will have its greatest effect will be in enabling the Typhoon to carry larger and heavier air-to-surface weaponry, without losing any of its current air-to-air capabilities.
Airbus DS did not disclose the level of customer nation interest in fitting the new modification, nor did it say if it is currently being offered to potential new operators of the Typhoon.
As well the AMK modification, Eurofighter and Airbus have launched a number of developments that are geared at enhancing the Typhoon's performance in a bid to secure the further export orders needed to sustain the multinational fighter programme. These modifications chiefly revolve around expanding the aircraft's much-touted multi-/swing-role combat capabilities, as well as integrating an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
In terms of expanding the Typhoon's air-to-air and air-to-surface capabilities, Eurofighter has recently undertaken a series of separate weapon trials that include the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), the MBDA Storm Shadow/Taurus cruise missiles, the MBDA Brimstone low-collateral air-to-surface missile, and the Raytheon Paveway IV precision-guided bomb. Airbus has also revealed that it is looking to integrate a variety of anti-shipping missiles onto the aircraft to increases its maritime role. The goal is to have the full multirole Phase 3 Enhancements (P3E) package in place by 2018, to coincide with the retirement from UK service of the Panavia Tornado GR.4 strike aircraft.
The Euroradar Captor electronically scanned (E-Scan)/Captor active electronically scanned array (CAESAR) radar is currently in its Extended Assessment Phase (EAP), with an integration contract signed by Eurofighter and partner nations on 19 November 2014. The Captor-E/CAESAR is being provisioned for the Tranche 3 aircraft, and will be retrofittable to Tranche 2 platforms also. Once fielded, the new AESA radar should offer some electronic attack capability and simultaneous multimode operation, plus significantly expanded air-to-air capability (it will also have additional functions at the customer's request).
Eurofighter officials have previously described the integration of all these systems as representing "a paradigm shift" in the Typhoon's capabilities, with the central goal of expanding upon the platform's current seven-nation customer base and 571 aircraft order book (not including the Tranche 3B option).
