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Eurofighter faces pivotal year for Typhoon programme, says chief executive By Dominic Perry This year will be pivotal for the Eurofighter programme if production lines are not to stop in 2015. The four-nation project has to secure orders for either Tranche 3B aircraft - now under review by Italy and the UK - or export sales in 2011 or face making mass lay-offs in four years' time. That is the stark message from Eurofighter chief executive Enzo Casolini, who describes this as a "year of transition" for the company. He adds: "At the moment the situation looks a little bit...

UK and Italy weight Eurofighter options Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:41am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Defence officials from Britain and Italy have asked the Eurofighter consortium for information on their options as they weigh budgets to buy fighter jets from both Europe and the United States. A spokesman for the Eurofighter consortium said it was working on implementation of an existing plan for the sale of 236 planes to four countries. This proposal is due by the end of the year. These make up the last tranche of 620 ordered under the four-nation programme involving Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain....

DID usually restricts its coverage to procurements, but issues of doctrine and lessons and innovations from the field also qualify. Drawing conclusions from exercises is always tricky, and can never replace combat experience. Even so, in the absence of state-on-state conflicts, the expansion of multi-national training (where "gaming" is less likely) occasionally offers an interesting window into platform capabilities and national trends. With a number of air forces around the world contemplating their future fighter options, and India emphasizing the value of force multiplier/ force projection platforms in its air force, the matchups at Exercise Indra Dhanush 2007 at Waddington,...

Eurofighter faces new challenger Putin to lead business delegation Russia will pitch its new combat jet for a $9 billion (£4.5 billion) Indian defence contract, adding to fierce competition among European companies for one of the largest orders by any air force. Sergei Ivanov, the Defence Minister, said that Russia would submit the MiG-35, an advanced version of the MiG-29, to the tender for 126 light fighter aircraft as the Indian Air Force seeks to upgrade its ageing fleet of Russian-made MiG-21s and British Jaguars. India’s military, the world’s third-largest with 1.3 million active personnel, plans to buy new fighters...

The Government threw down the gauntlet to the makers of the Eurofighter yesterday, warning that it would no longer tolerate industrial inefficiencies that had effectively turned the project into a "charity". The cost of a single Eurofighter: £66.7 million The attack came as new figures suggested that the cost of buying 232 Eurofighters for the RAF is set to top £20 billion — making it far and away the most costly weapons project ever undertaken by Britain. Figures released by the National Audit Office, the official spending watchdog, put the current price of a single Eurofighter, known as Typhoon in...

Austria prepares to dump Eurofighter order · New government to examine 'senseless' deal · British firm insists it is delivering on contract Ian Traynor and Mark Milner Friday October 6, 2006 The Guardian Europe's ill-starred fighter aircraft project was facing a further major blow yesterday when Austria's newly elected centre-left government threatened to scrap the purchase of 18 planes. The social democrats made cancelling the €2bn (£1.4bn) Eurofighter order a centrepiece of their campaign and signalled yesterday they would table a motion as soon as the new parliament convenes to bin the contracts. The move would be a further blow...

Taurus Systems seeks enhanced cruise missile Less than a year after entering operational service with the German air force, Taurus Systems’ KEPD 350 cruise missile is being lined up for capability enhancements. Future develoments of the 1,400kg (3,100lb) weapon now under consideration include a reduced mass 350L version suitable for carriage by small fighter aircraft such as Lockheed Martin’s F-16, and a containerised variant intended for booster-assisted launch from ships, fixed land sites or trucks, says Taurus Systems business development executive Ulf Albinsson. The EADS LFK/Saab Bofors Dynamics joint venture has identified as near-term growth priorities the addition of a...

Turkey Requests New Bid from Eurofighter By Ibrahim TUrkmen, London Published: Friday, July 21, 2006 zaman.com The Turkish Air Force requested a new bid from Eurofighter as part of efforts to strengthen its forces by replacing its planes with a new generation of jet fighters. In response to the Turkish Ministry of Defense’s decision to increase the number of jet fighters it will purchase, Eurofighter’s producer, Aeronautica, began to prepare lower prices for the tender. The company will also issue a response to Turkey regarding its demands for partnership, technology transfers, and industrial participation. Authorities evaluate Turkey’s new demand about...

LITENING for UK's Eurofighters Posted 20-Jul-2006 07:31 Ultra Electronics Holdings announces that its Sonar & Communication Systems business, based in Greenford, Middlesex, has been selected by the UK Ministry of Defense to supply and support "LITENING EF 3rd generation airborne surveillance & targeting pods" for the RAF's Eurofighter aircraft. Ultra will act as the prime contractor and assemble the pods in the UK, with its Sonar & Communication Systems business unit running the project. LITENING designer RAFAEL of Israel will act as the principal sub-contractor. The Eurofighter has initially been produced and delivered in its air defense version; full muti-role...

<p>New Delhi: The dogfight for bagging the Indian order for 126 fighter aircraft has taken a sensational twist. The front-runner, the French Mirage 2000, has pulled out, complaining that India is taking too much time to make up its mind.</p>

UK lobbying for selling Eurofighter to IAF A delegation of cross-party MPs and businessmen from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce are currently on a visit to London. FROM SHYAM BHATIA DH NEWS SERVICE, LONDON: The British government is “pushing hard” for India to purchase the Eurofighter for the IAF, a visiting Indian MP has revealed. Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is co-chair of a delegation of cross-party MPs and businessmen from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) currently visiting London, told Deccan Herald that the issue of selling the Eurofighter, developed jointly by the...