BAE Systems has been awarded a contract valued at approximately £135 million, to drive forward the next phase of capability enhancements for the Eurofighter Typhoon; one of the world’s most advanced combat aircraft.
The investment will improve weapons capability, increasing the variety of precision guided munitions, and further enhance Typhoon’s defensive systems and datalinks, improving high-speed secure sharing of data.
The contract was awarded to BAE Systems by the Eurofighter consortium which comprises Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, and is supported by the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany and forms part of an ongoing commitment to continue to develop the Typhoon’s technology-led capability, increase interoperability with coalition forces and mature technologies for the nations’ future combat air systems.
Current development work on the Typhoon includes the design and exploitation of new large touchscreen cockpit displays, funded by BAE Systems, enabling pilots to assess and respond to increasing volumes of data from the aircraft's sensors and datalinks.
The Typhoon programme directly employs more than 5,000 at BAE Systems, supporting a further 10,000 jobs across the UK supply chain.
Combat air capabilityRichard Hamilton, BAE Systems Air Typhoon programme director (Europe), said: “This contract marks another significant milestone in the continued development of the Typhoon’s capability as we apply our breadth of expertise to further advance its combat air capability, ensuring it has the technologies required for the future battlespace.
“The contract will sustain 100 highly-skilled engineering roles in the North West and is just one example of a number of technology-led innovations being developed on Typhoon, which will help to keep the UK skill base at the forefront of the global combat air sector and sustainable skills required to deliver the next generation future combat air system.”
The Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced multi-role combat aircraft in operation, supporting European security and defence objectives and is also highly successful in the export market. It will remain in operation with nations well into the middle of the century.
The aircraft underpins the UK’s strategically important international relationships and is in operational service with seven nations – Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Austria, Oman and Saudi Arabia – with production orders underway for Germany, Kuwait and Qatar.