Eurofighter Typhoon Completes 200,000 Flying Hours

Eurofighter Typhoon has now achieved more than 200,000 flying hours since the entry-into-service of its worldwide fleet, the company said in a statement adding that with 719 aircraft on contract, 571 aircraft ordered and 378 aircraft delivered, the programme has “never looked stronger”.

Alberto Gutierrez, Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH, said, “This impressive milestone underlines the outstanding track-record of the Eurofighter Typhoon. Today, our congratulations go to all the air forces who have achieved this target, to more than 100,000 employees in Europe who are involved in the development manufacturing and supply chain as well as to all the 400 companies who support us on a daily basis with their know-how and competences. This is indeed a proud day for all of them and a landmark day for Europe’s largest defence programme.”

He added, “Eurofighter Typhoon is combat proven since the Libya operations and is now gaining considerable momentum – indeed the programme has never looked stronger. It has become the backbone of the Air Forces in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria. When the chips are down, air chiefs want an aircraft that is versatile, reliable, resilient and cost-effective.”

The first 5,000 flying hours were achieved in November 2005. 10,000 hours came in August  2006 and 20,000 in May 2007. By August 2008, the Eurofighter Typhoon fleet had surpassed 50,000 hours and 100,000 flying hours was reached in January 2011. In the course of these flying hours, Eurofighter has demonstrated 100 per cent availability in numerous international deployments including: Alaska; Malaysia; the United Arab Emirates; the USA; and India, the statement said.