Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3 Begins Production

Italy’s first new Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3 has rolled-out of the Alenia Aermacchi production plant in Turin-Caselle, according to the company.

The Tranche 3 standard embodies a number of changes that effectively enhance the aircraft’s performance and which allow for future upgrades making it more attractive to current and potential export customers, it said.

The first Italian Tranche 3 has been produced for the Italian Air Force by the Eurofighter Partner Companies and assembled by Alenia Aermacchi. The Italian single seat aircraft no.64 is now ready for engine tests at Turin-Caselle and will be delivered within the first half of this year.

Under the Tranche 3A contract signed in 2009, a total of 112 aircraft have been ordered for the four European partner nations of Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, with 21 aircraft bound for the Italian Air Force.

Alessandra Saroglia, Alenia Aermacchi Eurofighter programme manager, said, “The first Eurofighter Tranche 3 is a major stepping stone in our production programme. The aircraft embodies a number of changes with respect to previous production tranches making it even more operationally capable and also a series of provisions allowing it to take on additional capability in the future. For example, the Tranche 3 aircraft has been built with power, cooling and electronics to allow for the fitting of the new E-Scan radar.”

Since entry into service of the first Eurofighter Typhoon at the end of 2003, more than 400 Eurofighter Typhoons have been delivered to six nations: Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia. In December 2012, Oman became the seventh customer ordering a total of 12 aircraft.