UK Ministry of Defence, Typhoon, the Royal Air Force's (RAF) newest state-of-the-art fast jet, is set to be the star of the flying display at Southend sea-front Air Show this Bank Holiday weekend (29/30 May).
2005 is the first year that Typhoon will make regular appearances at air shows throughout Britain flown by RAF aircrew, and Southend is Typhoon's first event of the year. The aircraft will have appeared at about 20 shows by the end of the season in September.
The Typhoon Display Team has developed an action-filled seven-and-a-half minute aerobatic sequence which ably demonstrates Typhoon's extreme agility and the sheer power of its two EJ-200 engines.
Typhoon is the embodiment of nearly 20 years of co-operation between British, German, Italian and Spanish industry to produce the world's most advanced swing-role combat aircraft. The first of seven Development Aircraft, DA1, flew for the first time in Germany on 27 March 1994, and was followed by others from each of the participating countries, ending with the second Italian aircraft which made its first flight on 27 January 1997.
The total requirement for the four nations, agreed in 1996, is 620 aircraft comprising 232 for the UK (37 % of the workshare), 180 for Germany (30% of the workshare), 121 for Italy (19% of the workshare), and 87 for Spain (14 % of the workshare). Production aircraft are currently entering service with units in all four countries.
In the UK the first was 17 (Reserve) Squadron, the Operational Evaluation Unit, followed by 29 (Reserve) Squadron, the Operational Conversion Unit, for aircrew training. Both of these units formed at the British Aerospace Systems factory at Warton, Lancashire, where Typhoon is built, but are moving permanently to RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, during the course of this year.
The first operational RAF Typhoon squadron (No 3 (Fighter) Squadron) is expected to form at Coningsby during the summer of 2006, followed by XI(Fighter) Squadron, also at Coningsby, in the autumn of the following year. The next unit to form will be 6 Squadron at RAF Leuchars, Fife, in late 2008. Further squadrons have yet to be identified.
Initially Typhoon will be used in the air defence role, but as its capabilities are expanded and developed in service it will assume an ever increasing air-to-ground responsibility, and will replace the RAF's Tornado F3 fighter and Jaguar GR3 ground attack aircraft.
Typhoon's developing capabilities will provide the RAF with a world beating aircraft capable of meeting its operational needs for the next 30-plus years.
