Eurofighter Typhoon IPA9

IPA9 is the single-seater with serial number SS051 built by EADS in Spain, part of the Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) programme that supplied the Eurofighter Typhoon with the airframes used to develop and validate systems ahead of their introduction into operational service. Its existence adds a ninth airframe to a fleet that sources usually describe as comprising eight instrumented production aircraft, a discrepancy the consulted material does not resolve: one of the reference tables consulted, in fact, stops at IPA7 and does not even mention the Tranche 3 IPA8 dedicated to the CAPTOR-E radar, let alone this ninth airframe, which is worth bearing in mind when reading programme counts. Beyond its origin and serial number, the available sources publish neither its first flight date nor details of the test campaigns to which it has been assigned, so its operational record remains undocumented.