Eurofighter Typhoon | The powerful European fighter that could be upgraded by Spain

Video from the channel Mundo Bélico about Eurofighter Typhoon, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:51. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

The video reviews the Eurofighter Typhoon's characteristics, avionics, armament and planned upgrades, and asks whether it can hold its own against fifth-generation fighters. It opens with an episode from January 2018: two Royal Air Force Typhoons took off from Lossiemouth, Scotland, to track two Russian Tu-160 bombers approaching British airspace. The bombers turned back once detected.

The Typhoon is an advanced fourth-generation, twin-engine, single-seat multirole fighter with a delta wing and canards, and it has a two-seat training variant. It was jointly developed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Spain; it first flew in 1994 and entered service in 2003. Each partner manufactures parts for the entire production run but only assembles its own aircraft. France took part at the outset and left the programme to develop the Rafale.

According to the video, it is 16 m long, has an 11 m wingspan and is 5.28 m tall, and weighs 11 t empty and up to 23.5 t at take-off. Its two EJ200 engines with afterburner take it to around 2,500 km/h, and its range exceeds 3,700 km with three external tanks. Highlights include the cockpit with three multifunction displays and voice command, the Praetorian defensive system, the PIRATE infrared sensor, the MIDS data link and the Captor radar; by mid-2020, Spain was working with Indra on a new AESA radar. It carries a 27 mm Mauser BK 27 cannon with 150 rounds and has 13 hardpoints. The video puts the number built at around 600, also operated by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Austria, at a unit cost of around $65 million and a service life expected to run until 2040.