HALLBERGMOOS, Germany: Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH has today signed a major contract with NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) to support the fleet of Typhoon jets across the four Eurofighter core nations: Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
The five-year support contract is part of a new contract suite agreed with the nations which includes integrated mechanisms for continuing development work on the aircraft and will replace a number of legacy contracts whilst extending the terms for a longer period. The agreement demonstrates a commitment by all parties in achieving continued efficiencies on the programme; long-term support for the sustainability of aircraft covering all three production tranches and future enhancements and upgrades of the platform.
The new contract will focus on performance and affordability and will ensure a range of support services to the Typhoon users. The contract will also help to sustain European aerospace engineering, capability and jobs.
As part of the contract, Eurofighter’s partner companies: Alenia Aermacchi in Italy, BAE Systems in the UK and Cassidian in Germany and Spain will work closely with the local MOD’s and Air Forces to improve the way it delivers a range of support services. This work will provide a strong basis for future support requirements including potential export opportunities.
The contract will help to sustain the thousands of jobs that are supported by the Eurofighter programme across a range of disciplines such as engineering, supply chain and project management and is further confirmation of the role of the Eurofighter programme as catalyst of high-tech aerospace European manufacturing, engineering and technological capabilities. Today, around 100,000 jobs are supported by the programme in the four core nations and the economic impact generated largely off-sets the investments made to develop and manufacture the aircraft.
Enzo Casolini, Eurofighter CEO, said: “This contract is important for the Eurofighter programme but also for the nations and the Air Forces. The contract’s goal is not only to deliver savings to the customer, but also guarantee a better management for the processes involved in the sustainability of the aircraft in-service. This can be considered a massive step in supporting the enhancements programme planned for Eurofighter, which is a fantastic, young platform with plenty of development capability still to be exploited”.
Today Eurofighter is the largest new generation fighter programme in the world with 559 aircraft under production contract, 321 aircraft delivered and in-service with 16 units in six air forces. Based on the number of aircraft in service and the number of customer air forces, this multi-role aircraft can be considered the best coalition fighter available on the market. Eurofighter made its combat debut during Libya operations in 2011 performing in both air-to-air and air-to-ground roles.
Eurofighter Typhoon is the world’s most advanced new generation real multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft available on the market and has been ordered by six nations (Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). With 559 aircraft under production contract, it is Europe’s largest military collaborative programme and delivers leading-edge technology, strengthening Europe’s aerospace industry in the global competition. More than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies are secured by the programme.
Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the programme on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies: AleniaAermacchi/Finmeccanica, BAE Systems, EADS CASA and EADS Deutschland, Europe’s foremost aerospace companies with a total turnover of approx. €120 billion (2010).
