Typhoon Pressure Grows on U.K.
By Douglas Barrie
European partner governments and senior industry executives are intensifying pressure on Britain to deliver funding for the Eurofighter Typhoon. At the same time the Royal Air Force is cautioning of the capability and cost-impact should a positive decision not be forthcoming.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to contact British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the next week or two in anticipation of an answer on funding for Tranche 3 of the Typhoon. Senior U.K. defense aerospace industry executives are also expressing their concern to the government over the implications of axing Tranche 3. There are serious industrial implications should the U.K. not pursue at least an element of its Tranche 3 commitment. Tranche 2 production would conclude around 2013 raising issues with regard to the future size of BAE Systems’ Warton site where the U.K. assembly line is located. Finmeccanica subsidiary Selex is also closely involved in the program, including work on electro-optical and radar systems. Rolls-Royce meanwhile is closely involved in the propulsion.
The four partner nations—Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain—need to make a decision shortly over the next batch of Typhoons if a production gap, and the associated cost escalation, is to be avoided.
The U.K.’s finance ministry, known as the Treasury, is presently blocking funding for what is believed to be a further 40 Typhoon aircraft—out of the U.K.’s notional commitment of 88 aircraft. The so-called Tranche 3A includes 24 RAF aircraft drawn from Tranche 2 and diverted to partly meet the Saudi Arabian procurement. The defense budget is under considerable pressure in the U.K.
Air Chief Marshal Glen Torpy, the chief of the air staff, cautions that failure to secure a Tranche 3 procurement has both capability and supportability implications for the Royal Air Force. Torpy says the exact number is not the concern, but rather capability. A U.K. decision not to proceed with Tranche 3 would “send a pretty negative message” about what is a “fantastic platform,” he adds.
The capability implications are reiterated by Air Vice-Marshal Tim Anderson, the assistant chief of the air staff. Anderson says that the Typhoon Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 aircraft address areas of obsolescence in the Tranche 1 design. “The capability impact is real.” He adds there are also concerns about support cost repercussions.
The Typhoon and the F-35 are at the heart of the air force’s long-term manned combat aircraft plans. The Tornado GR4 is presently planned to be withdrawn from service in 2025. The RAF has taken delivery of 55 Tranche 1 aircraft, and is in the process of receiving 89 Tranche 2 aircraft. The Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 aircraft would form the core of the air force’s Typhoon medium-to-long-term combat fleet, leaving a question mark over at least some of the early Tranche 1 aircraft.
Torpy and Anderson, speaking in the wings of the RAF/Shepard Air Power Conference held here May 6-7, also stressed the importance of introducing active electronically scanned array radar (AESA) on the Typhoon.
Two Typhoon-related AESA programs have recently concluded. The tri-nation Airborne Multirole Solid-state Active-array Radar (Amsar) and the Captor E-Scan Risk-reduction (Cecar) have now ended. Amsar involved industry in the U.K. and Germany, as well as from France, while Cecar was a U.K.-German project. The latter resulted in flight trials of an AESA on a Typhoon.
“We need an AESA,” says Torpy. He says work is ongoing among the partner nations to try to identify a way ahead in the provision of this capability for the aircraft.
Anderson adds that alongside the attractions of reduced support costs compared with conventional mechanically scanned array radar, AESAs offer enhanced performance, including that of electronic attack.
The U.K. has already flown a national AESA technology demonstrator, the Selex Advanced Radar Targeting System, on a Tornado GR4, which examined some of the electronic attack aspects of AESA technology.
Anderson suggests AESAs provide electronic attack options in both the air-to-air and air-to-ground environments, including the ability to operate against surface-to-air missile systems. He identifies the potential to jam “data-links and ground-based sensors (radars)” as advantages of AESA technology in the electronic attack role.
Torpy also offers a robust defense of the Typhoon as an air combat platform, both in the air-to-air and strike roles. “It’s an exceptional air-defense aircraft, and we are continuing to develop its air-to-ground role.”
The chief of the air staff also confirms that all of the RAF’s Typhoon squadrons will be multirole. Originally half of the Typhoon units were to have been in the air defense role, with two multirole squadrons, and a further one dedicated for the air-to-ground mission.
Torpy has recently spent a couple of weeks flying with a Typhoon squadron, and he is full of praise for the platform. He adds that a recent air warfare exercise in the United Arab Emirates underscored the performance of the aircraft. “The Typhoon was in a different league to the other participants.” These included U.S. and European-manufactured fourth-generation fighter aircraft.
Photo: Eurofighter
