Eurofighter: how European can you get?

The Eurofighter Typhoon is the second Eurocanard I will be writing about. It still has nothing to do with duck tape. 

The Eurofighter is the result of a cooperation between the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. France dropped out and developed the Rafale. Design began in the 1980's but it wasn't until the 90's that the prototype was ready. The Eurofighter was primarily designed to be an interceptor and air superiority fighter. Air-to-ground capabilities were added in the later tranches.

Air-to-ground mission

The first Typhoons didn't really have any A2G capabilities. This has changed a lot with the newest version. The Typhoon is available as both a single and double seater. It has 13 hardpoints. That is a lot for a fighter. It can hold up to 7500 kg (16500 lbs) of weapons and fuel. Three hardpoints are suitable for fuel tanks. 

It can carry the widely used Paveway laser-guided bombs. A nice bonus is the Brimstone missile. This is a small missile that is excellent to engage mobile targets and it small size limits the possibilities of collateral damage. However is seems that the missile is still being integrated with the Typhoon. It doesn't seem to be operational just yet. The British Tornado's are already equipped with the Brimstone. France seems to be interested in using it for their Rafales as well.

The Typhoon was partly built with composite materials to reduce its radar cross section. It has the usual set of countermeasures and the British version can deploy a towed decoy. 

Air-to-air mission

Despite efforts to increase its usefulness in A2G, the Typhoon is really an air superiority fighter. It is a canard-delta wing design which makes it cery maneuverable. It has a top speed of Mach 2 and a service ceiling of 19812m (65000 ft).

The current Typhoon is equipped with a PESA Captor M radar. Most of its competitors are already equipped with better AESA radars. However plans exist to upgrade it with the Captor E AESA radar. Most Typhoons have the PIRATE infrared search and track system. The PIRATE system is very highly regarded. 

The figther can be armed with the AIM-120 and AIM-9 Sidewinder but also with the new Meteor and IRIS-T missiles. 

The Typhoon is one of the best superiority fighters in existance and has performed well in exercices against US F-22 Raptors.

Cost and ease of maintenance

Being the best is pricey. The unit flyaway cost for a Typhoon is about 127 million USD (114 million euro). The operating cost is about 18000 USD/flight hour. Expensive. It is possible that these costs will be a bit lower for late production aircraft but most sources seem to agree that its nemesis, the French Rafale, is both cheaper to buy and to operate.

More here: eurofighter-typhoon-analysis

Cooperation

The Eurofighter Typhoon is operated by the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria. This is a big bonus. The Typhoon will be in their service for many more years.

Suitable for Belgium? 

Many European countries have it and it can do both A2A and A2G. (At least the newest model.)

However it is still a fighter with air-to-ground capabilities being added later and it is expensive.

The Typhoons biggest rival is the Rafale. Both are very similar designs, but the Typhoon is more expensive. That extra money buys some extra speed and some extra altitude but is it worth it?