Why the Eurofighter Typhoon remains a global favorite in modern air combat

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-national jet fighter project that ultimately saw delivery into the British, German, Italian, Austrian, and Spanish air forces in Europe, with Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait also signing on to the project. And it’s been very successful.

As of last year, Airbus noted that it had notched a total of 680 Eurofighter orders, making the combat jet one of Europe’s most successful post-Cold War fighter jets. There are several reasons why the project has been so successful.

Continuous upgrades

As a fourth-generation aircraft, the Eurofighter’s design emphasizes high maneuverability over an explicitly stealth-reductive design. To that end, the Eurofighter benefits from a relaxed fly-by-wire flight control system and canards.

The Eurofighter Typhoon has been steadily upgraded since its initial introduction into European air forces. In 2022, Germany began producing 38 brand new Eurofighter jets as part of the Quadriga project, an effort that will deliver 30 single-seat as well as 8 double-seat fighters from the updated Tranche 4 standard.

These 38 fighters will replace an equal number of Tranche 1 fighters slated for retirement. The German parliament approved €5.4 billion, or about $6.35 billion, to purchase the combat jets.

The initial Eurofighter design lacked an organic ground attack capability. Though air-dropped munitions could be used against ground-based targets, doing so required integration with additional target destination equipment, a significant shortcoming of the initial Eurofighter design that newer Eurofighter tranches remedied.

The Eurofighter’s multinational production strategy has also strengthened the program. With parts of the fuselage, cockpit, engines, and other systems produced in Spain, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom, there is an interest in those countries to continue investing in their own domestic Eurofighter program.

Related: What really happened when F-22 Raptors squared off against the Eurofighter Typhoon?

A nod to stealth

A German Air Force Pilot conducts preflight checks from the cockpit of a GAF Eurofighter Typhoon before a combat training mission during Red Flag-Alaska 12-2 June 11, 2012, at Eielson AFB, Alaska. Red Flag-Alaska is a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, joint/coalition, tactical air combat employment exercise which corresponds to the operational capability of participating units. (Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth/Released)

The Eurofighter Typhoon is no stealth fighter. However, the Eurofighter incorporates several technologies and design features with the express intention of reducing the jet’s radar cross-section.

Serpentine, or s-shaped air intake outlets, partially hide the Eurofighter’s jet turbine blades, a significant source of radar wave deflection. In addition, the jet makes extensive use of radar-absorbent coatings on its airframe surfaces. In addition, the Eurofighter carries some of its weapon load out in semi-recessed “pockets” in the airframe, allowing these weapons to be partially hidden from enemy radar waves.

Though canards are not usually a design choice for stealthy aircraft, the Eurofighter reportedly flies with minimal movement of control surfaces to reduce radar bounce-back.

What the future holds

Though the United States is leading the transition to stealth aircraft away from legacy fourth-generation non-stealthy aircraft, other nations, including Russia and especially China, are also investing heavily in their domestic fifth-generation fighter capabilities – raising the question of what the Eurofighter’s role in the future will be.

While the Eurofighter is not a stealthy fighter, incorporating more radar-absorbent materials could help further reduce the Eurofighter’s radar cross-section. However, the Eurofighter will never achieve the same small radar cross-section enjoyed by dedicated fifth-generation stealth aircraft.

However, the Eurofighter Typhoon could continue to excel as a compliment to stealthy aircraft rather than as a platform competing against them for mission use. Advancements in air-to-air missile range would allow non-stealthy jets like the Eurofighter to fly with fifth-generation aircraft and remain combat-effective. Lastly, another enduringly attractive aspect of the Eurofighter is its low per-hour flight cost compared to fifth-generation stealth aircraft.

Eurofighter Typhoon production in Germany is scheduled until 2025. With various European countries waiting for the Future Combat Air System to come online, there will be a 10-year gap in German domestic aviation production, which runs the danger of losing jobs, tax revenues, and aviation expertise.

Airbus proposes leaning into the Eurofighter’s Long-Term Evolution capability development program as a stop-gap measure. The LTE program “provides for the modernization of important components, including the cockpit and adding more computing power,” and will “keep the Eurofighter at the cutting edge of technology,” until its eventual replacement.

Feature Image: A Eurofighter Typhoon alongside a variety of munitions. (Creative Commons)

This article by Caleb Larson was originally published by 19FortyFive.com

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