German Eurofighters in service

News24 ^ | April 30 2004

[knighthawk]

Laage, Germany - The German air force announced on Friday that it had officially put its first five Eurofighter jets into service in the northern city of Rostock.

The five aircraft, which will be used mainly for training purposes, were given to the Steinhoff fighter squadron based in Laage.

Germany, which was the first country to take delivery of the European-made fighter but the second to put it into service after Italy, has ordered 180 of the combat aircraft at a cost of €80m each.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-role combat jet with a range of 2 500km and can be equipped with a mix of missiles depending on its mission.

It is built by a four-nation consortium involving the French-Spanish-German group EADS, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Alenia.

Britain has ordered 232 aircraft, Italy 121 and Spain 87. Last year Austria became the first nation outside the consortium to place an order, asking for 18. Greece has committed to 60 with an option for a further 30 aircraft.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Michael81Dus]

WOOOHOOO, YEAH!!! Nearly centuries of discussing, we finally get the BEST FIGHTER JET IN THE WORLD!!! :-D

Michael
Lt. (Deutsche Luftwaffe Reserve)

[lormand]

"It is built by a four-nation consortium involving the French-Spanish-German group EADS..."

Also, the jet fighter is equipped with an emergency surrender kit, and a cargo net to hold pilot's purse and makeup kit.

[AppyPappy]

Big deal. Another "great" aircraft that will probably never see combat and we'll have no idea whether it is worth anything. They all look good on paper.

You should have kept those Mig-29's.

[Alter Kaker]

EADS is military wing of Airbus. This is good plane. Not good investment, however.

[John Will]

Wager aginst a JSF or F-22?
Don't think so.

[Michael81Dus]

MiG-29? Hell no! We sold them to the Poles for the symbolic price of 1 €, to learn soon that Poland bought F-16 Jets from the US instead of the EuroFighter.

The MiG were BS, they´re just useful for Defensive Counter Air. With the EuroFighter, we´re capable to join US forces in Air Interdiction and Offensive Counter Air. We desperately needed this airplane. ... and we need a lot more of modern stuff. Still, we are belong to the best armies of the world - though classes away of the most expensive (and, yes, best euqipped) armed forces of the world.

[Michael81Dus]

Don´t underestimate the power of the Typhoon. We´ll learn its capabilities soon, when the first EuroFighters are for joint training on the US-German-AB in El Paso, NM.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

Wy bother in developing a "euro fagger" if you never intent in using it? We know they will never use it (that goes for all of Europe), look back at the last 3 years...

[Taquito]

The Spanish version will fly to it's destination, wait for a terrorist bombing, then hi-tail it home.

[lormand]

"euro fagger"

...love it!

[Michael81Dus]

You know why you said "3 years". Remember 1999!
And if we´d say "we buy stuff we´ll never new!" we could save the money. No, we do not exclude the use of our military capabilities. Maybe we need to use our jets against a terrorist or aggressive country? Who knows? Never say never!

[AppyPappy]

With the EuroFighter, we´re capable to join US forces in Air Interdiction and Offensive Counter Air.

You could have done that a lot cheaper with Migs which have as much if not more combat experience than those Eurofighters. In the age of 40km AA missiles, the deliverer is less important than before.

[Michael81Dus]

That´s disgusting and inappropriate. Do you want to be held responsible for crimes you didn´t committ?

[Southack]

Just for reference, American civilians are going into Space this Summer aboard the private aircraft called "SpaceShipOne".

Over the next 5 years you are going to see American civilians flying aircraft that make sub-orbital hops, and perhaps even orbital jumps.

The Burt Rutan aircraft mentioned above seats 3 people, too. It could easily be modified to seat only 1 person and then carry an air-to-air or air-to-ground missile.

Rutan's building that first craft for less than $10 Million, too.

That's essentially a sub-orbital fighter for less than the cost to refurbish JSF's engines.

That's the wave of the future: sub-orbital and orbital fighters. Add stealth and replace the pilot with a computer and you've got even more capabilities.

...And you can build ten of those sub-orbital fighters for the price of a single JSF.

Here comes the future, right at you!

[lormand]

I just saw your profile.

God bless the IDF!

[Southack]

"In the age of 40km AA missiles, the deliverer is less important than before."

Especially if that "deliverer" is unmanned or in orbit...

[RightWhale]

What do they these need for except training? Is Euroland in danger of attack and could 5 airplanes and 20,000 groundtroops actually stop an attack?