New test Eurofighter takes to the air

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

New test Eurofighter takes to the air

Published: Nov. 9, 2007 at 7:10 PM

WARTON, England, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The latest Typhoon Eurofighter test aircraft IPA6 has successfully completed its maiden flight in England.

The flight took place from BAE Systems' flight test facility at Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire, England, BAE Systems said in a statement this week.

"The aircraft flown by Typhoon Project test pilot, Mark Bowman was airborne for 54 minutes," the company said.

"This first flight of IPA6 represents the beginning of the next chapter in this remarkable aircraft's life. Whilst the exterior of the aircraft may be familiar, significant changes have taken place 'inside' that will take this to the Tranche 2 standard and beyond. From the pilot's point of view, the new systems worked very well and performance remains simply stunning," Bowman said.

BAE Systems said the single seat aircraft was "the sixth Instrumented Production Aircraft -- IPA -- in the Eurofighter Development fleet. The purpose of the aircraft will be to prove the Tranche 2 system design, which features enhanced main mission computers and upgraded equipment to equip Typhoon with the capacity to deliver future air-to-ground and advanced air-to-air capability demands."

Steve Greenbank, BAE Systems delivery director said, "The first challenge is to test and prove the Tranche 2 system with all its enhanced computing capacity. This will underpin the Type Acceptance process next year leading to the delivery of the first Tranche 2 production aircraft to the four Eurofighter Partner Nations -- (Britain), Italy, Germany and Spain. Later software releases will progressively then introduce enhanced capability."

BAE Systems said the Tranche 2 airframe "has been strengthened to carry heavier air to surface weapons that the enhanced system will be able to support. This will increase the versatility of Typhoon as it steps up to the responsibility of providing the core defense capability for the Eurofighter Partner Nation Air forces and future export customers, including Saudi Arabia, who have recently agreed to purchase 72 aircraft at the Tranche 2 standard."

"This is a significant achievement by BAE Systems and our partners and clearly demonstrates our outstanding engineering capabilities," Greenback said.

© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

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