FLUG REVUE December 2005: Eurofighter operations at Laage

December 2005

EUROFIGHTER OPERATIONS AT JG 73

By Stefan Petersen

The crowd of curious onlookers gathered at the perimeter of Laage airbase could not wish for more: scarcely have two EF 2000 two-seaters taken off in quick succession into the blue afternoon sky of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania than two single-seaters taxi down runway 28 for a take-off in formation. Four aircraft have already flown that morning, in the first “round” of the day – Fighter Wing 73 “Steinhoff” (JG 73 “S”), the first Luftwaffe unit to be equipped with the Eurofighter, has a busy flying schedule. Both pilot training and operational evaluation of the new high-tech fighter are making clearly visible progress.

Eurofighter der Luftwaffe

“We now have eleven aircraft on the base, five single-seaters and six two-seaters,” says Peter Steiniger. The 40-year-old Wing Commander is one of four pilots in the Project Liaison Team which is helping the aircraft to “settle in”, i.e. he is helping to co-ordinate the integration of the individual components of the Eurofighter weapon system and their development. “As we speak, another two-seater is being upgraded to a new standard at EADS in Manching.” The upgraded package for the first jets delivered in April/May 2004 covers the installation of the in-flight refuelling package, changes to the electrical system and a software update. All seven two-seaters in the initial equipment configuration are to be upgraded one after another.

But even the upgraded trainers do not have the capabilities of the single-seaters delivered since April 2005, with their Production Software Package (PSP) 2. “In the single-seater, the Captor radar already has additional functions for a better air situation display, and the IFF system has been installed,” says Steiniger. The basic systems of the multi-functional information distribution system (MIDS) for the instantaneous exchange of data with other aircraft or ground stations have also been integrated, likewise the voice input system.

The Wing Commander is especially taken with the latter. “It is fascinating to be able to talk to one's jet!” At present the direct voice input (DVI) syntax is still limited to a few commands, but later these will be extended to over 80. “The pilot first of all has to record the commands on a storage medium,” Steiniger explains. This DVI template is then loaded into the aircraft systems so that the pilot's voice can be recognised. Once this procedure is complete, “I can select radio frequencies, adjust the TACAN, change the displays and even control the radar without lifting a finger!”

But it is not only in the systems area that the single-seater differs from the trainer version. “It flies a lot better as well. As you accelerate or turn, you can feel that it has more thrust,” says Steiniger. The reason may well be the lower aerodynamic drag. “The big cockpit canopy on the two-seater has a negative impact on the aerodynamics.” Moreover, in the single-seater cockpit there is an excellent view to the rear which is lacking in the trainer version.

Testing the new systems of the single-seater is one of the items covered in Phase II of the operational evaluation. This will last for six months commencing in mid-October and include about 250 flying hours. Only in the ensuing Phase III will the Eurofighter have to demonstrate its capability as a fighter in its final configuration – with complete avionics suite, full weaponry and helmet-mounted sight. But the first steps on the path towards this have already been taken. “Phase I ended on 1 April,” says Steiniger. “That included tests on the basic flying capabilities of the jet and its qualified suitability for deployment with the troops, that is, of course, confined to the systems that were installed at that point in time.” In Phase II, the focus is on the operational use of the weapon system. “Now we are examining what the aircraft can achieve tactically.”

The entire fighter mission spectrum – air superiority, protection of point targets and fighter escort – is under scrutiny, practice interceptions and radar tracking having already begun during Phase I. “Another point is the use of the Eurofighter as a National Quick Reaction Alert forces aircraft: how we comply with the readiness levels demanded by NATO with the Eurofighter, how the aircraft has to be prepared for this, how we can operate from different airfields and so on.”

Also under test are the air refuelling capability and other new systems such as the Libelle g suit, which, thanks to its “liquid muscles” distributed over the body, protects the pilot a lot better and with less strain against high g loadings than the pneumatically operated systems used up to now (see FLUG REVUE 11/2005). “Up to now, the Libelle has not been used much, as we have not done much flying at high acceleration forces,” says Steiniger. The Eurofighter is also currently artificially limited by the Flight Control Software (FCS) as to both the speed of onset of acceleration forces and the maximum g force that can be flown. “Once the limit is removed, we will be able to pull 9g and the onset will be well over 10g per second,” he explains. “We expect the new FCS to boost performance considerably.”

As far as Steiniger is concerned, the “foolproof” Flight Control Software is one of the definite advantages of the Eurofighter. “The pilot no longer has to keep his eye on all the technical limits. The FCS only allows what the jet can currently withstand.” As the new software will not arrive for a few months, evaluation of the Libelle will not take place until the end of Phase II of the operational evaluation. Steiniger is non-committal as to whether this can really be completed within six months. “We will fly the trials as a series of small campaigns and alternate with training operations.”

Training operations are in full swing. The six students on the first course – four future Eurofighter flying instructors, the commander of the operations wing and the commodore of JG 73, Group Captain Günter Katz – began their theoretical training in January and progressed to the flying part of the training immediately after the end of Phase I of the operational evaluation. “16 flights cover the pure conversion training,” says Katz. For the future flying instructors, this is followed by a further three months' Instructor Pilot (IP) training. The IP course and the conversion training of the two other pilots are interlinked: “The new flying instructors will take on the last part of our training and will be guided and assessed during it by the original Service Instructor Pilots (SIPs),” explains the Group Captain. Ten SIPs like Wing Commander Steiniger were trained by EADS back in 2003/04 in order to create training documentation and manuals in Laage, conduct Phase I of the operational evaluation and train the first new flying instructors. Most of these pilots have now completed over 150 flying hours on the Eurofighter.

The first IP course is set to finish in December, and in January the second course with eight students will commence. “Four of them in turn will be trained as flying instructors for JG 73, while the others will be the first students from JG 74 in Neuburg to undergo conversion training”, says Katz. Already from next July Eurofighter will fly above the Danube when deliveries to JG 74 commence. This will have consequences for the further supply of aircraft to Laage. “By the end of 2006, we should have received 22 aircraft. We will just have to manage with that number until the other air wings have been equipped.” JG 73, which will function as a training unit, is expected to end up with 33 Eurofighters, 12 of them two-seaters.

Group Captain Katz is impressed by the capabilities of the EF 2000: “Flying the latest European fighter is a special experience.” Moreover, the feeling of sitting alone in the jet appeals to this ex-Phantom pilot. This is actually nothing unusual for Peter Steiniger, who in 1996 underwent conversion training from the F-4F to the MiG-29. “But the leap forward is huge – what the Eurofighter already offers in the way of information to the pilot in its present state of development requires quite a bit of processing on the part of the pilot.” This apparently is the real challenge, as controlling the jet is quite easy from the piloting point of view. The concept of the Eurofighter requires only around ten percent of the pilot's attention for purely manual flying and the remaining 90 percent for mission performance and the avionics.”

It is therefore just as well that the Luftwaffe's aircraft are not yet “all singing, all dancing.” As Steiniger explains, “Not only does the jet need to develop its capabilities, but so does the pilot. We are making the preparations now so that future Luftwaffe pilots will be able to deploy the Eurofighter optimally, with all its complex possibilities, in a few years' time.”

Wing Commander Gero Finke, squadron leader of FW 73's 2nd squadron since September, says exactly the same thing: “It is the pilot who plays the main role in an air battle,” says Finke. “If I don't know how to use my superiority, I can lose against the worst aircraft at any time, even with the best aircraft.”

From FLUG REVUE 12/2005

Last updated 10 November 2005

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