Eurofighter Typhoon Typhoon FGR4

Typhoon FGR4 is the designation the Royal Air Force applies to its single-seat Eurofighters: under the British designation system it covers the Tranche 1 block 5 aircraft that received the Rafael/Ultra Electronics Litening III laser designator. The case neatly illustrates why tranches and blocks do not map onto one another cleanly: tranches are a production and funding distinction, blocks record capability standards, and procurement batches follow yet another numbering. The FGR4 has been the RAF's reference multirole fighter for two decades. In October 2016 four FGR4s from No. II (AC) Squadron, supported by an Airbus Voyager KC3 tanker and a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, deployed to Misawa Air Base in Japan. On 3 December 2015 six FGR4s deployed to RAF Akrotiri to support operations against ISIL, striking targets the following evening alongside Tornados. On 1 April 2019 No. IX (B) Squadron officially converted from the Tornado GR4 to the Typhoon FGR4, becoming an aggressor and air defence squadron at Lossiemouth, and in July that year No. 12 Squadron was assigned its first FGR4. The 160th and last Typhoon for the RAF, ZK437, was delivered on 27 September 2019. On 23 April 2008 an FGR4 of 17 Squadron from RAF Coningsby, ZJ943, made a wheels-up landing at the US Navy's Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.