Eurofighter Typhoon

Video from the channel Synchronized about Eurofighter Typhoon, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 1:16:12. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

Spanish-language explainer documentary about the Eurofighter Typhoon, a twin-engine multirole fighter with a delta wing and canards. It covers the origin of the programme, its industrial development, the aircraft's systems, its armament and its evolution through tranches and upgrade phases. It ends with a comparison with the Rafale.

The story begins after the Tornado and the MRCA programme. In Germany, engineers who had worked on the F-15 at McDonnell Douglas moved to MBB. There, a lightweight fighter with the RB199 engine was ruled out because that engine performed poorly at high altitude. In 1977 the delta wing with canards was chosen. Fly-by-wire control was then tested on a ballasted F-104G, and in 1979 the TKF-90 appeared. In 1983 the FEFA project was born. BAe built the EAP demonstrator, with two RB199 engines, which flew on 8 August 1986. France left the programme and Dassault went its own way. On 2 June 1986, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH was founded in Munich, with BAe and MBB holding 33% each, Aeritalia 21% and CASA 13%. Germany demanded that the cost and weight of the Jäger 90 be cut, and the programme was relaunched on 10 December 1992 as EFA 2000. The DA3 prototype, now fitted with EJ200 engines, flew in Turin on 4 June 1995. The two-seat DA6 flew in Getafe on 31 August 1996, piloted by Alfonso de Miguel González. The initial orders were for 232 aircraft for the United Kingdom, 180 for Germany, 121 for Italy and 87 for Spain.

The EJ200 engine is derived from the XG-40 demonstrator, with 13% participation from ITP. It ran for the first time on 9 November 1990, has a service life of 6,000 hours, and four technicians can change it in 45 minutes. The Captor-M radar gave way to the Captor-E, an AESA-type radar that flew on 24 February 2006. The latter has Mk 0 (Kuwait), Mk 1 (Germany and Spain) and Mk 2 (RAF) versions. The PIRATE IRST entered service in Italy in August 2007. Self-protection is provided by the DASS Praetorian suite, which Austria never received. The armament includes the Mauser BK-27 cannon, ASRAAM, IRIS-T, AMRAAM and Meteor missiles, Paveway bombs, Taurus and Storm Shadow cruise missiles, and up to 18 Brimstone. The documentary also covers the German and Spanish Tranche 4 and the Typhoon EK variant with Saab's Arexis suite. According to the video, the aircraft will remain in service until 2060.