FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1992.PDF
EXPORTS Can Eurofighter take on JSF? The last couple of weeks have been a mix of good and bad news for Euro- fighter Typhoon export campaigns. Last week Austria selected the fighter and plans to buy 24 in a €1.8 billion ($1.75 billion) deal. The week before Australia abandoned its Air 6000 pro gramme in favour of a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) acquisition. In Austria, Eurofighter overcame the early lead of the Saab/BAE Systems Gripen. Austria needs its Eurofighters quickly as the present Saab Draken fleet has to be retired by 2005. Austria is also seeking aircraft for "air policing" so the initial opera tional capability Eurofighter meets the requirement. Australia's decision to abandon its Air 6000 future fighter competition in favour of buying Lockheed Martin F-35 JSFs is the latest in a string of new partners for the programme and a blow for the Typhoon and other multirole fighters in the export arena. Australia follows Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, which have also recently thrown their hats in the JSF ring. Although Oslo says it has not committed to the F-35, it is doubt ful that any country paying $130 million to participate in development will be able to swap horses later. The Netherlands' JSF choice was regarded as being strongly influenced by the air force and the country's larger aerospace companies, which coveted a slice of the programme. The deci sion came despite a report from the CPB, the Dutch government econom ics and planning bureau, suggesting it would be better to buy off-the-shelf in the second half of this decade. Of the four original European Partner Air Forces, only Belgium has yet to make an F-16 replacement deci sion. Belgium's defence ministry has been critical of the JSF programme, but with much of the nation's aero space industry owned by French companies, or dependent on French programmes, it is a more promising market for the Dassault Rafale. Austria is not Eurofighter's only export success - the fighter was selected by Greece in 2000, but con tract talks for 60 aircraft and 30 options were suspended last year amid a defence-spending freeze. Athens has postponed a fighter pur chase until after 2004, by which time the government will have paid for that year's Olympic Games. Andy Lewis, vice-president sales support at Eurofighter International, says: "We believe we will start negotiations immediately after the Olympics. We have been down there looking at industrial and operational issues." A competition being held by Singapore is the one remaining con test with a near-term decision pending. It is due to release a request for proposals towards the end of this year, with a contract expected in 2004. Competition is stiff, with the Typhoon up against the Boeing F-15E Eagle and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Lock heed Martin F-16C/D Block 60, the Rafale and the Sukhoi Su-35. Although Eurofighter has a lead on the JSF most potential customers are seeking an aircraft for the end of this decade, in effect comparing projected F-35 capabilities against the Tranche 3 Eurofighter. Lewis says: "We're starting to talk to customers with 2010 require ments and trying to predict where the aircraft needs to be in 2010." Arguably, JSF is better defined today than the post-2010 Eurofighter, as neither Tranche 2 nor Tranche 3 has been formally decided. "What is needed is a clearly defined and pub lished Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 configuration," says Richard Aboulafia, director aviation consulting at the Teal Group. "Eurofighter needs firm commitments and contracts [from the partner nations]." Lewis says: "It is true that the 2010 Eurofighter is a paper aircraft, but it is also clear that Eurofighter will receive continuing insertion of technology as the partner nations want more flexibility. And we can say we have a maximum price contract for 620 aircraft." During the 1990s, the USA's major development programmes were the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor and Boeing/General Dynamics A-12, providing Europe with an opportunity to develop fighters ahead of the USA. However, political and development delays have led to that chance dimin ishing rapidly. "Europe has lost a decade.. .the window of opportunity has begun to shut, and the shutting has accelerated," says Aboulafia. Europe has too many other priori ties to develop a direct competitor to JSF. "The response should be the Tranche 3 Eurofighter," says Aboulafia. There needs to be a com mitment to Eurofighter Tranche 3, but there is not a lot of political support." is as capable as possible, each EOC upgrade will be retrofitted into in-service aircraft. The manner in which EOC 1/2 will be fit ted into Tranche 1 aircraft has yet to be defined, but all 232 Tranche 2 fighters are intended to have the new computer, so that software upgrades can be introduced as they become available. EOC upgrades will continue throughout the aircraft's service life. Developing Eurofighter in the longer term is crucial, as the aircraft will remain in service until 2040 and beyond. "There has to be a flexible growth path," says Leon Skorczewski, Eurofighter capability enhancement director. In May 2001, the four Eurofighter partner companies - Alenia, BAE Systems, EADS Casa and EADS Germany - sanctioned a 12-month concept-definition study to consider the fighter's future roles, technical options, and other considerations. Also asked to participate, says Skorczewski, were the original and poten tial export customers, and the consortia supplying major equipment such as the Captor radar, Pirate infrared search and track, EuroDASS defensive aids and EJ200 engine. External changes A number of concepts were studied. These included developing the current system architecture and build standard; changing the architecture, but keeping the aerody namic shape; and changing the external mould line/configuration. The first is the least costly option, the latter the most expensive. External changes could be radi cal, such as removal of the canard or a cranked leading edge to the wing, while Spain, for instance, has considered leading- edge root extensions. While all changes require modifications to the flight-control system software (and, potentially, to the avionics system and util ity system software) and retesting of the aircraft, major configuration changes would have a significant impact on the software and would require a major flight- trials programme to recertificate the air craft. "We decided against that for now," says Skorczewski. Principal options can be subdivided into air superiority, deployability and afford- ability, precision attack, reach, survivabil ity, interoperability and weaponry. Some enhancements, such as converting the Captor from a mechanically to an electron ically scanned radar, would have an impact in more than one area - air superiority and precision attack. Reach is a major issue in coalition opera tions mounted from the nearest friendly country. It also has an impact on key mar keting campaigns, as well as offering an 40 9-15 JULY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
