Italy
receives 500th Eurofighter Typhoon to be built
Paolo
Valpolini, Turin -
IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
12 April 2017
The Italian
Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiana: AMI) on 11 April received the 500th
Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft to be built on the international production
lines.
The Tranche 3
Block 25 aircraft was handed over to the AMI during a ceremony at Leonardo
Aircraft Division site at Torino Caselle, near Turin, which was attended by
senior military and industrial officials.
In the same
ceremony, Kuwaiti dignitaries were symbolically presented with the first piece
of hardware of the first Typhoon for the Kuwaiti Air Force. Kuwait became the
eighth nation to order the European fighter with a contract for 28 aircraft,
six of which are two-seater trainers, as well as a full training suite
including a simulator, a three-year support starting from the delivery of the
first aircraft, and the build-up of a new infrastructure at the Ali Al Salem
Air Base.
As for
training, Kuwait signed an agreement with Italy, which includes the training of
eight Kuwaiti pilots at the 4th Wing 20th Operational Conversion Unit (OCU)
Squadron, and the setting up of a training centre in Kuwait. According to
Leonardo sources, Kuwait is carefully analysing the possibility of adopting the
company's M-346 as a lead-in fighter trainer.
In terms of
future Typhoon developments, the CEO of Eurofighter, Volker Paltzo, underlined
that the first three P1E, P2E, and P3E enhancement packages are well under way.
Flight trials of the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missile, part of P2E, should be
completed by the end of the year. The P3EA concerns MBDA Brimstone
air-to-surface missile integration, while the P3EB aims at allowing full
integration of the new EuroRadar Captor-E electronically-scanned radar (the
contract not including the radar itself). The launch customer for the Captor-E
is Kuwait, which should receive its first aircraft around 2020 (though the
exact date has not been confirmed by Eurofighter, the contract calling for full
deliveries within 2023).
Original post:
janes.com
Related post:
Eurofighter
Typhoon: Details
Image: Airplane Pictures net
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