Britain's fighter jet fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons cut by a third

[sherdil76]

The RAF is losing more than 70 of its fleet of Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.

The service will buy 160 instead of the 232 planned, it was announced in Munich at the contract-signing ceremony involving the four nations of the Nato Eurofighter Tornado Management Agency.

Britain signed up for a third and final tranche of Typhoons but agreed to buy 40 instead of 88. Twenty-four of these will be sold to Saudi Arabia, leaving 16 for the RAF. Britain ordered 55 in the first tranche and 89 in the second.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, who retires today as the Chief of the Air Staff, has made it clear that he expects the RAF to operate on the basis of a Typhoon fleet of 120 aircraft.

RAF sources explained that by the time the last jets of the third tranche come into service — between 2015 and 2020 — the first batch of Typhoons, in service today, would be coming to the end of their life.

The announcement does not safeguard the RAF from further cuts in fast jet numbers. Next year’s strategic defence review — which will go ahead whoever wins the election — will look at Typhoons as well as all other Armed Forces equipment.

Cancelling orders would bring financial penalties and cause British job losses, but in the meantime the Munich contract will help to safeguard about 15,000 jobs at BAE Systems, the principal British manufacturer of the multi-role aircraft. Its main factory is at Warton, Lancashire.

A decision after the review to keep all 160 planned Typhoons would be likely to put pressure on the other major aircraft programme, development of the Joint Strike Fighter to replace the Harrier. These jets are to be bought for two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers, the first of which is under construction.
The plan was to buy 150 Joint Strike Fighters, but ministers and service chiefs have already indicated that the review will look closely at numbers of individual platforms and weapons, not eliminating capabilities altogether.

The numbers game will affect all three services and there is already a suggestion that the Army might lose up to two thirds of its fleet of 300 main battle tanks. There could also be cuts in nuclear-powered submarines and even the carrier programme might be affected. In an interview this week for The Times, General Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman, who has just retired as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, said that if it was possible to have only one carrier it should be considered as an option.

 

[Righteous_Fire]

I think that though the Eurofighter is an awesome machine but the Brits might instead be looking to put their money in the JSF! That's a much wiser choice anyway.

It is at times like these that PAF should search around to see if they can get a better deal for these planes, "who knows" !

 

[sherdil76]

i personally think Brits are not like us, they dont plan for today or tomorrow but always have strategic approach and thats how they ruled the world once.

this plane would be better than most of in line though but still not the best, i wonder how much it would have benefited some muslim states(i.e. Pak, Egypt, BD etc.) and china if Saudi's had selected J10 / 20 coz when you put more in such projects you improve with experience and technology

Read the following atrical about why Brits not interested in typhoon anymore

Analysis: Eurofighter/Typhoon was designed in a different era Michael Evans, Defence Editor

The Eurofighter Typhoon programme has been one of the most controversial military equipment projects, not just because of its cost — more than £20 billion for the proposed 232 aircraft — but because the fast jet was designed with the Cold War in mind.

It was thought that the RAF would need the most advanced aircraft to win superiority against the best Russian fighters. The design was first sketched in 1979 but the contract for the Eurofighter, later renamed the Typhoon, was not signed with Britain’s three European partners — Germany, Italy and Spain — until 1998.

The first tranche of Eurofighters consisted of air defence versions and they entered service, at a cost of about £68 million each, at a time when the focus of military requirements was moving away from this role towards ground attack. It looked like an excellent and expensive aircraft without a proper role.

I wonder what would be the role of typhoons in RSAF, or they just bought them coz of their price tag, as tmost of arabs like to display expensive stuff without knowing its real worth.

 

[Super Falcon]

paf can if first batch uk is not happy they can sell us in half of price

 

[Machoman]

we can just keep dreaming and no one give us JACK!

 

[Righteous_Fire]

^ Yeah! your'e right, sadly

 

[TOPGUN]

Its all about funds i have family in UK just like every other country in the world UK is suffering really bad ! PAF perhaps should look around at times like this but i doubt we would be able or afford such a expensive aircraft!

 

[Mig-29]

Majority of advanced RAF Typhoons will go to Saudi Arabia

By Thomas Harding

Despite spending more than £16 billion on the project over the last two decades the British are now going to end up with less than half of Typhoons from the Tranche 3 group.The Tranche 3 aircraft are specifically designed with built-in ground-attack capabilities that would prove highly effective in conflicts like Afghanistan.

But the RAF are now only going to receive 40 of the advanced aircraft with 48 going to Saudi Arabia. The Air Force was originally to receive 88 Tranche 3 aircraft which have been described as a "generational difference" between the Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 variants.It has also been disclosed that the aircraft, which cost £90,000 to fly an hour, will be almost a decade late coming into service between 2015 and 2020.


In a deal announced in Munich it was also confirmed that the RAF will fall 72 Typhoons short of the 232 originally envisaged for the aircraft designed to counter the Soviet Cold War threat.Agreement for the deal has been held up by detailed negotiations involving the manufacturers, BAE Systems in the UK, and the Eurofighter programme's European partner governments. The Government said those talks had secured £900 million of savings. Currently the RAF are desperately trying to get the Tranche 2 Typhoons into Afghanistan but are experiencing technical difficulties converting them to the ground attack role and do not have enough pilots trained.


The Tranche 1 aircraft, designed to intercept Soviet fighters, are not even able to carry cruise missiles as their undercarriage is too weak.Four Typhoons are on 24 hour Quick Reaction Alert in Britain to intercept hostile aircraft.The Liberal Democrats attacked the deal as a "betrayal" of troops fighting in Afghanistan who needed more transport aircraft, especially helicopters.


Willie Rennie, a defence spokesman, said: "Troops will find it hard to believe that the Government is pressing ahead with ever greater numbers of Cold War jets when it is transport aircraft, especially helicopters, that are so badly needed right now."Faced with a brutal conflict in Afghanistan, it is the lives of our brave servicemen and women that must come first."Cancelling the Typhoon order would have brought substantial financial penalties and likely job losses, but the Munich deal will keep about 15,000 jobs at BAE Systems.The Government has also been criticised for announcing the deal during the Parliamentary recess.

ASIAN DEFENCE: Majority of advanced RAF Typhoons will go to Saudi Arabia