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2015-09-01

GUARDIAN OF EUROPE’S SKIES

Unlocking Eurofighter’s full potential while most European jets are aging

The Eurofighter will provide the core of four of the five most powerful European air forces for at least a decade between the late 2010s and around 2030.

The limited remaining lifespan of legacy aircraft such as the Tornado and F-16A/B in European air forces, coupled with the cost and timescales associated with the F-35 program, mean that the Eurofighter Typhoon, along with the French Rafale, will be the backbone of Europe’s combat air power for at least a decade from 2020.

With sensor, weapon and network upgrades scheduled for integration, the Eurofighter could remain combat effective in most likely operational scenarios beyond 2030.

Options such as leading-edge root extensions (LERX), conformal fuel tanks (CFTs), up-rated engines and thrust vectoring would all enhance the performance of the jet. However, since the aerodynamic performance is quite good, the cost-benefit ratio would be less favorable than the radar and subsystem fixes.

If the DB -110 RAPTOR Tac/R pod is not integrated onto Typhoon before the out-of-service date (OSD) for Tornado (2019), the RAF will lose an extremely important and internationally valued capability currently performed by its fast-jet fleet as part of coalition operations. It is currently operated by the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia, and is soon to enter service in Oman.

Europe’s NATO member states collectively possess just over 2,030 fast-jet aircraft. The alliance boasts formidable combat air power even without the US. However, there is a legacy-aircraft problem within NATO, especially within Europe. The majority of Europe’s fast jets are aging third- and fourth-generation types such as the AV-8B Harrier, Panavia Tornado and F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Legacy platforms

Though undeniably impressive aircraft for their day, these are unlikely to remain operationally credible against near-peer opponents, let alone peer opponents such as Russia’s Su-35S, for long enough to be replaced by fifth-generation platforms. The problem for European air forces is that replacing these legacy platforms with capabilities to match the projected threat environment in the next 10–20 years will end up being an expensive undertaking.

Europe currently produces the two most-capable multirole fighter aircraft available for purchase by air forces around the world. The Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale are both effective air-superiority and strike platforms, which were designed specifically to replace the legacy fighter fleets in Europe.

Current UK plans for the F-35 envisage an initial order of 48 aircraft spaced across production lots such that a maximum of 37 F-35Bs will be in service at any given time until at least 2030 with the RAF/Royal Navy. Due to the needs of the training cycle, maintenance and readiness, a maximum effort during a crisis might deliver up to 20 F-35Bs to be forward deployed, whether on land or carrier.

This would yield between 12 and 15 aircraft serviceable at any given time. The UK is one of the largest potential F-35 customers in Europe, with states such as the Netherlands, Norway and Italy aiming to field even fewer aircraft within a 10 to 15 year timeframe. The F-35 is a potentially huge force multiplier for other networked assets on the ground and in the air. However, unless NATO is prepared to accept a crippling reduction in combat mass in the air domain, the F-35 alone cannot fulfill Europe’s combat-air requirements.

As of early 2015, the Rafale can be considered a more mature platform than the Eurofighter. Its active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, while significantly smaller than the Captor-E, on contract for integration in the Eurofighter from 2018, is operational and is capable of delivering almost all the air-launched weaponry in France’s arsenal.

Enhanced capabilities

The Eurofighter was designed for air superiority, the most aerodynamically demanding role for a jet fighter. Thanks to powerful engines and generous use of light composite materials, it has a positive thrust-to-weight ratio, which allows it to accelerate even in a vertical climb and maintain energy during combat maneuvers.

The distinctive delta-wing shape with large, aerodynamically decoupled canard control surfaces mounted on the nose is optimized for maximum maneuverability at supersonic speeds, lift at low speeds or high altitudes, and the ability to sustain high-G turns. An intended effect of this aerodynamic configuration is very high airframe strength and a large wing area for under-wing stores. The Eurofighter can operate at extremely high altitudes of up to 65,000 feet and speeds of up to Mach 2.

This performance, coupled with powerful radar and up to eight long- and medium/short range missiles, is designed to allow the aircraft to outperform and destroy any opposing aircraft at beyond visual range or within visual range if necessary. Operating at extreme altitudes at supersonic cruise speeds without needing to use thirsty afterburners allows the Eurofighter pilots to not only maintain an energy advantage over opponents in combat, but also extends the effective range of their missiles by up to 50 per cent.

In terms of design philosophy, its closest antecedent is the twin engine US F-15C Eagle. As with the F-15, the drawbacks of this approach are high procurement and operating costs compared to lighter single engine designs such as the F-16 and Saab Gripen. If total program cost is divided by the number of aircraft procured then according to some estimates the RAF’s Typhoons cost somewhere in the region of £110 million each at current prices.It is important to recognise that, if the same pricing criteria were applied to other competitor aircraft, then the Eurofighter Typhoon is competitively priced. The strength of Typhoon comes through the return on investment when through-life costs are factored in.

Outmatching

Although expensive, partner nations receive an air-superiority fighter capable of outmatching all currently operational fighter aircraft in the world with the exception of the stealthy and even more expensive US F-22 Raptor. The Eurofighter’s exceptional BVR performance comes from the powerful and wide field-of-regard radar, brute aerodynamic performance and large missile load-out. Within visual range, the new Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS) allows extreme off-boresight missile shots which, coupled with the high thrust-to-weight ratio and agility of the platform, make it a very dangerous opponent even against the most-modern super-maneuverable Russian and Chinese Su-27 ‘Flanker’ derivatives.

One of the standout features of the Eurofighter is the Eurojet EJ-200 engine that offers super cruise capability and is the most reliable military jet engine in the world.

During seven months of intensive operations over Libya on Operation Ellamy in 2011, RAF Typhoons flew more than 3,000 hours. During that time RAF maintenance crews performed only a single EJ-200 engine change, which was conducted as a practice to maintain ground-crew proficiency rather than due to any failure.

The engines are software managed to allow ‘care-free’ operation for the pilot at all speeds and angles of attack, significantly decreasing pilot workload and thereby increasing performance in more advanced tasks. In the early years of the Eurofighter program, software bugs would often complicate start-up procedures and aircraft availability.

However, especially during the last five years, these issues have largely been solved and the jet has earned a reputation among pilots and maintenance crews for excellent reliability ‘on the ground’, helping deliver greater serviceability and operational output per airframe and pilot.

Powerful and precise

In terms of sensors, the Captor-M radar currently mounted on the Eurofighter is widely recognized as one of the most powerful and precise of its kind.

This new radar offers a wide field of regard compared to standard fixed-plate arrays and will offer improvements in range, tracking resolution and fidelity, stealth, tactical options, electronic attack and ground mapping over the current Captor-M. Since almost all modern combat aircraft carry radar-warning receivers to detect hostile radar signals, passive operation is an important capability for the Eurofighter. To this end, and to provide a limited stealth-detection capability, the Eurofighter is equipped with a powerful IRST scanner called Pirate, except in Luftwaffe service. This is entirely passive in operation, producing no emissions, which could be detected by hostile threats.

Italy has made some progress with Pirate/Captor sensor fusion, but this is still a work in progress. The UK’s version of Captor-E (Radar 2 Extended Assessment Phase) is being developed to take advantage of some of this work and build on it to incorporate inputs from Pirate and the Dass much more than the current sensor suite centered on Captor-M.

BVR armament is the AIM-120C AMRAAM radar-guided missile and the much longer-ranged Meteor will soon boost this with full two-way data link allowing midcourse guidance updates. The two-way data link (not available for the Rafale due to platform limitations) is crucial for realizing the full performance of the missile, in particular for expanding the no-escape zone given the long flight time and potential for significant target course changes at long range.

At close range, the Eurofighter nations field one of two different missiles in addition to the internal 27-mm Mauser cannon. Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria use the IRIS-T heat-seeking missile, which offers extreme off-boresight capability, enabling successful engagements of targets behind the aircraft itself in conjunction with the HMSS helmet.

Longer-range engagements

ASRAAM also has lock-on-after-launch capability, which allows high off-boresight shooting as well as the potential for longer-range engagements cued through Pirate. Both missiles have IR seekers with high resistance to countermeasures.

Real strike capabilities currently exist only in the British and Saudi Typhoon fleets, with the Italian, Spanish and German Eurofighters currently exclusively tasked in the air-to-air role. The CP-193 Austere air-to-ground software package for Tranche 1 Typhoons in RAF service enabled Litening III targeting pods and Paveway II and enhanced Paveway II laser-guided bombs to be used from 2008 but outside the standardized consortium software-development plan. The P1Eb software upgrades currently being applied to RAF Tranche 2 Typhoons provide genuine multirole capability with the ability to switch between air-to-air and air-to-ground modes in flight, as well as Paveway IV bombs and many other enhancements.

As a result of the British-led upgrade work, the DASS, which includes threat detection, early warning and countermeasures systems, now includes a thoroughly effective electronic support measures package. This enables the recognition and tracking of hostile threat signals (including those from ‘low probability of intercept’ AESA radars), as well as various other classified functions.

However, the active electronic countermeasures (ECM) components of the DASS, while sophisticated, still lag behind the latest French and US capabilities on platforms such as the Rafale, EA-18G and F-22. This is an area where operators suggested that further priority investment could yield significant increases in survivability, especially against ground-based air defenses.

Challenges

From an operator’s perspective, the most limiting factor of the Eurofighter platform at present is not the slow pace of upgrades for weapons systems or sensors. While the major systems such as the engines are extremely reliable, there have been problems with some of the smaller subsystems such as the radios and even the digital altimeter.

These issues are longstanding and in the past have not been treated as priority investment areas because they are by nature small and unassuming from a program management point of view. However, in practice small subsystems, which do not function properly, act as serious performance bottlenecks for the system as a whole. The majority of these issues are associated with the earlier Tranche 1 aircraft and have been addressed in Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 aircraft with fixes offered to the user nations. There is also an ongoing programme of subsystem improvements delivered through the phased enhancement packages.

However, at squadron level, especially in German and Italian service, problems remain and should be fixed as a priority. Currently, pilots are forced to spend mental capacity coping with minor errors and trying to work around them. This limits their ability to use some of the more advanced capabilities of the platform. Further, certain relatively minor deficiencies can seriously constrain the capability of the system as a whole to function as intended.

Recent investments in the Eurofighter Program around E-Scan radar, Brimstone, Storm Shadow and Meteor missiles and new launcher systems, have all been well received.

Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation swing-role combat aircraft currently available on the world market. Seven nations (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon and it is currently the largest military procurement program in Europe.

Its high technology strengthens the position of European aerospace industry in the international market. The program secures more than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the program on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies: Finmeccanica - AleniaAermacchi, BAE Systems and Airbus Defence and Space in Germany and Spain. Since delivery of the first Eurofighter Typhoon to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom at the end of 2003, a total of 436 aircraft have been delivered to six nations and close to 300,000 flying hours have been achieved.

Ref: Text/Photo: www.baesystems.com

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