FLUG REVUE July 2002: Eurofighter series aircraft fly after delays

EUROFIGHTER PRODUCTION AIRCRAFT AIRBORNE

By Karl Schwarz

The first three Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) Eurofighters were actually supposed to have taken off in August, October and December of last year. Instead, it took until the spring before all the systems were installed and all the necessary ground tests had been completed.

"No single factor was responsible for the delay, but a lot of minor problems had to be fixed,” Bob Haslam, Managing Director of Eurofighter GmbH, explained to FLUG REVUE. He is confident "that the risky part (of development) is now behind us. We will definitely fly more than the originally planned ten hours per month with the IPAs, and this will enable us to make up some of the slippage.”

Prototypes DA1 to DA7 should also spend more time in the air over the next few months. "For a long time we did not have the availability that we had expected,” concedes Paul Hopkins, chief test pilot at BAE Systems. "Now that all the aircraft have been brought up to the latest equipment status, we can begin an intensive verification campaign.”

This is in fact necessary, since although over 2,000 flights have been clocked up to date, less than half of the test missions planned to demonstrate Fall Operational Capability (FOC) have been completed so far. This year over 600 flights are scheduled to occur before entry into service, 1,100 flights are planned before Initial Operational Capability and 2,600 need to be done before FOC in 2005.

The list of tasks that have to be performed is long. For example, BAE Systems has further work scheduled to fine tune the flight control software for the carefree handling which prevents the pilot from exceeding the aircraft's flight envelope. The effects of external stores on flying behaviour have also to be considered here. Other items which are Warton's responsibility are trials with the fuel system, the DASS electronic warfare suite and the flutter tests with the ASRAAM missile.

However, some important items on the programme have been already completed in recent weeks and months. Thus, for example, firing tests with the Mauser cannon commenced on 13 March. Alenia Aeronautica reported no problems during testing with DA3 in Decimomannu; vibration was within limits.

The first guided firing of an AIM-120 AMRAAM was also a complete success. On 9 April BAE test pilot Craig Penrice launched the missile from DA4, above the Benbecula test range in the Hebrides Islands. The target, a Mirach drone, heading in the opposite direction at a somewhat lower altitude, was hit directly at a distance of over 30km. During the operation, the Eurofighter's Captor radar had the Mirach in sight at all times.

Eurofighter launches AMRAAM

Penrice had already flown the hitherto longest Eurofighter flight (4 hours and 22 minutes) in DA4 in March. During that flight, together with Flt. Lt. Will Jonas of the RAF, he carried out the first nocturnal air-to-air refuelling operation. His German colleague Karl-Heinz Mai was meanwhile testing out DA1's behaviour in supersonic flight over the North Sea from the Luftwaffe base at Jever.

While the flight testing departments of the partner companies are thus fully occupied, production is slowly getting up to speed. According to the original production plan, twelve aircraft were to have been delivered this year, but due to the delays this is no longer possible. According to Eurofighter Managing Director Bob Haslam, the actual number produced this year is likely to be three, followed by 13 next year.

For example the Royal Air Force will only receive its first two-seater in October at the earliest, compared with the contractually agreed date of June. The BT001 systems were powered up for the first time on 10 April. However, at the time of FLUG REVUE's visit to Warton a week later there were 14 outstanding problems in the forward fuselage alone.

Like the Luftwaffe in Germany, the RAF will begin by operating its Eurofighters at the manufacturer's airfield using its support. A separate contract covers the training of 16 pilots and 284 mechanics. This will entail 1,300 flying hours by 2004, to be flown by 13 Eurofighters. These aircraft will then stay on in Warton for upgrading while the training unit is set up in Coningsby.

Under the German Luftwaffe's plans, four service instructor pilots are to receive training in Ottobrunn (simulator, theory) and Manching (17 flights each, further theory and exercises with small simulator). Regular training operations will then start up in October 2003 – six months later than planned – at Fighter Wing 72 "Steinhoff” in Laage. Up to 2005, training will be confined to pilots who already have sufficient experience on the F-4F Phantom II.

Training will also be supported by the Aircrew Synthetic Training Aids (ASTA), still under development at the present time. These include computer-aided learning and various simulators. The full mission simulator will not be fully operational until the beginning of 2005.

Entry into service of the Eurofighter with the air forces thus requires a lot of work. Nevertheless, it is already high time to be thinking about future enhancements to the combat aircraft, which initially will only be suitable as a fighter. After the 148 Tranche 1 aircraft already ordered, deliveries of Tranche 2 should commence in 2006. This implies that a contract must be signed in 2003.

"Views differ over future developments in the partner countries. We are still in discussions,” admits Eurofighter Managing Director Haslam. As always, it is "a question of how the development costs will be met.” To avoid the partner countries drifting apart, industry has taken the initiative and since May 2001 has carried out a number of concept studies, resulting in an array of costed alternative development packages. These were submitted in the middle of April and will now form the basis for further discussions.

Given that the Eurofighter is expected to remain in service through to 2040, it is important to have enough flexibility for future improvements. "A far-reaching technology plan is necessary,” according to Dr. Achim Aehlig, Product Development Manager at Eurofighter. Preliminary measures derived from this could then be undertaken relatively cheaply during production, even if the systems in question were only installed later on.

During the next few years the primary issue will be the integration of additional weapons such as IRIS-T, Meteor, Storm Shadow and Taurus. In addition, improvements are needed in communications along with, inevitably, the replacement of outdated equipment such as computers. The engine is also to be upgraded, but here the primary interest on the customer side is lower operating costs rather than greater thrust.

Drastic changes, such as changing to a new radar with active electronic beam scanning or thrust-vectoring nozzles, are then possible for tranche 3 commencing in 2010. Apart from auxiliary tanks to be attached to the upper side of the fuselage, it appears that no airframe modifications are envisaged.

From page 52 of FLUG REVUE 7/2002

Last updated 3 June 2002

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