eurofighter typhoon has served the royal air force for nearly two decades
developments around the uk tempest concept and recent defense reviews have set the blueprint for
the future of the air force and the spotlight falls once again on the euro fighter typhoon
norbert newman explores the role and future potential of aircraft
the eurofighter typhoon forms the backbone of the capabilities of the british royal air force
raf fulfilling air superiority missions such as rapid response warning over the falkland
islands and air policing duties with nato allies in the baltic and black sea regions
since the retirement of the tornado gr4 known as the tonka the typhoon
is also the primary attack platform and performs several reconnaissance tasks
the fourth generation multi-role fighter arrived in the uk in 2003
has since become the pride of the raf and is in the process of continuous improvement
the tranche 3 is the latest production standard with improved electronics radar and defense
systems the typhoon will also receive the first capabilities from the future combat air system
fcas program a project that aims to replace the capabilities currently provided by the typhoon
but upgrades are expensive and the uk defense command paper says that
some of the older aircraft will retire 15 years earlier than originally planned the
raft's level of expertise in air superiority missions has also declined simply because
there have been fewer aircraft to fly and train since the retirement of the gr4
if you look at the way joint operations between services are planned the way investments are put
forward across platforms and the way doctrine is set there is a tacit in in some cases explicit
assumption that air superiority is a prerequisite said an air power research fellow royal united
services institute justin bronk at the same time he said because the raff's air superiority
has never been seriously challenged it has fallen on the priority list to date
the integrated defense review and command paper published this year sets out plans for incoming
and outgoing raf capabilities the defense command paper stressed the importance of the uk competing
and even dominating the airspace and described the domain as the battlefield of the future
braun believes that the typhoon will continue to be the backbone of the rap until at least
2040 although it is more upfront than the f35a and similar in price to the f35b
the f-35 especially the f-35b is much more expensive to operate than the
typhoon the euro fighter doesn't have an easily observable lining to maintain
but also because its supply chain is very much uk managed in the uk has more ownership and influence
since 2016 the uk ministry of defense mod has been working with base systems and leonardo
fin mechanica to cut fleet operating costs at ralph kenningsby and raf lassie
typhoon total availability enterprises 10-year partnership
has reduced costs by 30 percent so far but there are other aspects to consider
bronx said basically the two aircraft fulfill completely different missions for the raf the
f-35 is designed to penetrate hostile air space and is well defended and carries out precise
strikes on key targets if you want to fly into heavily fortified airspace and carry out strikes
then the f-35 is by far the most capable platform available today
if what you need is rapid reaction vigilance and aerial surveillance then maybe you want something
with a wider range with better performance at altitude that is not sensitive from a safety
point of view and is cheaper to operate typhoon is much better suited for the role
these factors and the fact that the typhoon can carry a larger weapons payload
all make this aircraft an arguably more effective option for carrying out attacks in semi-permissive
and permissive airspace in iraq and syria where the raft typhoon is located currently deployed
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