Monday, 24 July 2017

UK to drive down Typhoon operating costs to match F-16



20 JULY, 2017 SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM BY: CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

The UK Royal Air Force is to enhance the capability of its Eurofighter Typhoons by using money saved via a new in-service support model for the multirole type.

Dubbed the Typhoon total availability enterprise, or Tytan, the new, 10-year arrangement between the RAF and industry partners BAE Systems and Leonardo is expected to reduce the Typhoon's per-hour operating cost by 30-40%. This should equate to a saving of at least £550 million ($712 million), which "will be recycled into the programme", according to BAE Systems Military Air & Information managing director Chris Boardman.

Introduced one year ago at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire and RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, the Tytan framework is already delivering savings, and attracting "phenomenal" interest from other programmes, including Lockheed Martin's F-35, Boardman says. His goal is for the initiative to eventually result in the Typhoon having a per-hour operating cost "equivalent to a [Lockheed] F-16".


"You can't reduce cost by just using the same system," Boardman says. "We need to get more for less if we're going to push forward."……Read rest of article: HERE


While a final decision has yet to be reached, operations with the Tranche 1 aircraft are likely to be dedicated to air-to-air duties, such as flying quick reaction alert sorties, while they also could support training activities, acting in an aggressor role. The UK currently has no funding allocated to enable the early production-standard aircraft to carry Meteor missiles, so they will continue to operate with Raytheon's AIM-120 AMRAAM.

Duguid says 10 Tranche 3 Typhoons are now operational with RAF squadrons, with the service having previously taken delivery of additional examples which have been placed into temporary storage.


Doubt that’s going to happen


Eurofighter vs F-16 Flight Cost Per Hour


Source: aviatia.net

Related post:

Eurofighter Typhoon: Details

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