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122-455: The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine , supersonic , foreplanes delta wing , multirole fighter . The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus , BAE Systems and Leonardo that conducts the majority of the project through a joint holding company , Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH . The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency , representing

244-592: A SEAD capability for the aircraft, a role which is currently performed by the Tornado ECR in German service. The Typhoon ECR would be configured with two Escort Jammer pods under the wings and two Emitter Location Systems at the wing tips. Armament configuration would include four MBDA Meteor, two IRIS-T and six SPEAR-EW in addition to three drop tanks . On 5 November 2020, the German government approved an order for 38 Tranche 4 with ground attack capabilities for

366-649: A great circle route. Hence, in case of an engine failure in a twinjet (like Boeing 777 ), the twin-jet could make emergency landings in fields in Canada , Alaska , eastern Russia , Greenland , Iceland , or the British Isles . The Boeing 777 has also been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for flights between North America and Hawaii , which is the world's longest regular airline route with no diversion airports along

488-518: A podded engine usually mounted beneath, or occasionally above or within, each wing. Most notable examples of such a configuration are the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 . The second has one engine mounted on each side of the rear fuselage, close to its empennage , used by many business jets , although some airliners like the Fokker 70 , Douglas DC-9 and COMAC ARJ21 utilise such a design as well. In

610-473: A broad-span biconical delta, with each side bulging upwards towards the rear in a manner characteristic of the modern Rogallo wing . During the following year, in America U. G. Lee and W. A. Darrah patented a similar biconical delta winged aeroplane with an explicitly rigid wing. It also incorporated a proposal for a flight control system and covered both gliding and powered flight. None of these early designs

732-530: A compromise was reached whereby Germany would purchase another 40 aircraft. The workshare split was therefore UK 37.42%, Germany 29.03%, Italy 19.52% and Spain 14.03%. At the 1996 Farnborough Airshow the UK announced funding for the construction phase of the project. On 22 December 1997 the defence ministers of the four partner nations signed the contract for production of the Eurofighter. The maiden flight of

854-435: A deeper structure for a given aerofoil section. This both enhances its weight-saving characteristic and provides greater internal volume for fuel and other items, without a significant increase in drag. However, on supersonic designs the opportunity is often taken to use a thinner aerofoil instead, in order to actually reduce drag. Like any wing, at low speeds a delta wing requires a high angle of attack to maintain lift. At

976-405: A delta foreplane just in front of and above the main delta wing. Patented in 1963, this configuration was flown for the first time on the company's Viggen combat aircraft in 1967. The close coupling modifies the airflow over the wing, most significantly when flying at high angles of attack. In contrast to the classic tail-mounted elevators, the canards add to the total lift as well as stabilising

1098-623: A design known as the ACX. In the meantime, while the P.96 would have met the original UK specification, it had been cancelled because it was considered to offer little potential for future upgrades and redevelopment. In addition, there was a feeling within the UK aircraft industry that the P.96 would have been too similar to the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet , which was then known to be at an advanced stage of development. The P.96 would not have been available until long after

1220-473: A factor of 25% to 1,500 n miles (2,778 km). BAE has completed development of its Striker II Helmet-Mounted Display that builds on the capabilities of the original Striker Helmet-Mounted Display, which is already in service on the Typhoon. Striker II features a new display with more colour and can transition between day and night seamlessly eliminating the need for separate night vision goggles. In addition,

1342-572: A form of boundary layer control . The ACA, like the BAe P.110, had a cranked delta wing, canards and a twin tail. One major external difference was the replacement of the side-mounted engine intakes with a chin intake. The ACA was to be powered by a modified version of the RB199. The German and Italian governments withdrew funding, and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) agreed to fund 50% of the cost with

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1464-579: A formal proposal to their respective governments for a collaboration, to be known as the European Collaborative Fighter, or European Combat Fighter (ECF). In October 1979, French firm Dassault joined the ECF project. It was at this stage of development the Eurofighter name was first attached to the aircraft. However, the development of three separate prototypes continued: MBB continued to refine its TKF-90 concept, and Dassault produced

1586-541: A future Luftwaffe contract known as Taktisches Kampfflugzeug 90 ("Tactical Combat Aircraft 90"; TKF-90). Dornier collaborated with Northrop in the US on an acclaimed, but unsuccessful design, known as the Northrop-Dornier ND-102 . MBB was successful, with a design including a cranked delta wing , close-coupled- canard controls , and artificial stability. In 1979, MBB and British Aerospace (BAe) presented

1708-416: A hinged right glareshield. Access to the cockpit is normally via either a telescopic integral ladder or an external version. The integral ladder is stowed in the port side of the fuselage, below the cockpit. User needs were given a high priority in the cockpit's design; both layout and functionality was developed with feedback and assessments from military pilots and a specialist testing facility. The aircraft

1830-525: A member of the project. Despite pressure from France, Spain rejoined the Eurofighter project in early September 1985. France officially withdrew from the project to pursue its own ACX project, which was to become the Dassault Rafale . By 1986, the programme's cost had reached £ 180 million. When the EAP programme had started, the cost was supposed to be equally shared by government and industry, but

1952-645: A naming ceremony was held at Farnborough , United Kingdom. This saw the Typhoon name formally adopted, initially for export aircraft only. The name continues the storm theme started by the Panavia Tornado . This was reportedly resisted by Germany; the Hawker Typhoon was a fighter-bomber aircraft used by the RAF during the Second World War to attack German targets. The name "Spitfire II" (after

2074-504: A new passive MWS in addition to the active devices already on board the aircraft. The latest support for self-protection will however originate from the new AESA radar which is to replace the Captor system, providing in a spiralled programme with passive, active and cyberwarfare RF capabilities. Selex ES has developed a self-contained expendable Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) jammer for fast jet aircraft known as BriteCloud which

2196-474: A new project, with additional participating EU nations. However disagreements over design authority and operational requirements led France to leave the consortium to develop the Dassault Rafale independently. A technology demonstration aircraft, the British Aerospace EAP , first flew on 6 August 1986; a Eurofighter prototype made its maiden flight on 27 March 1994. The aircraft's name, Typhoon,

2318-414: A production/funding distinction, and do not imply an incremental increase in capability with each tranche. Tranche   3 are based on late Tranche   2 aircraft with improvements added. Tranche   3 was split into A and B parts. Tranches were further divided up into production standard/capability blocks and funding/procurement batches, though these did not coincide, and are not the same thing; e.g.,

2440-566: A saving of at least £550   million ($ 712   million), which "will be recycled into the programme" and, according to BAE, will result in the Typhoon having a per-hour operating cost "equivalent to a F-16 ". By 2022 it was estimated that savings would be "over £500   million." In 2000, the UK selected the Meteor from MBDA as the long range air-to-air missile armament for its Typhoons with an in-service date (ISD) of December 2011. In December 2002, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden joined

2562-443: A shock body beneath the wing creates an attached shockwave and the high pressure associated with the wave provides significant lift without increasing drag. Variants of the delta wing plan offer improvements to the basic configuration. Cropped delta  – tip is cut off. This helps maintain lift outboard and reduce wingtip flow separation (stalling) at high angles of attack. Most deltas are cropped to at least some degree. In

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2684-436: A simple fashion using the aircraft's existing transponder. Finmeccanica said NATO is considering the system as a short- to mid-term solution for air-to-surface identification of friendly forces and thus avoid collateral damages due to friendly fire during close air support operations. With the confirmed retirement date of March 2019 for RAF Tornado GR4s, in 2014 the UK commenced an upgrade programme that would eventually become

2806-686: A single pylon. Also in 2015, Airbus flight tested a package of aerodynamic upgrades for the Eurofighter known as the Aerodynamic Modification Kit (AMK) consisting of reshaped (delta) fuselage strakes , extended trailing-edge flaperons and leading-edge root extensions . This increases wing lift by 25% resulting in an increased turn rate, tighter turning radius, and improved nose-pointing ability at low speed with angle of attack values around 45% greater and roll rates up to 100% higher. Eurofighter's Laurie Hilditch said these improvements should increase subsonic turn rate by 15% and give

2928-408: A specified distance from an available diversion airport. Overwater flights near diversion airports need not be ETOPS/LROPS-compliant. Since the 1990s, airlines have increasingly turned from four-engine or three-engine airliners to twin-engine airliners to operate transatlantic and transpacific flight routes. On a nonstop flight from America to Asia or Europe, the long-range aircraft usually follows

3050-406: A sufficiently high angle the wing exhibits flow separation , together with an associated high drag. Ordinarily, this flow separation leads to a loss of lift known as the stall . However, for a sharply-swept delta wing, as air spills up round the leading edge it flows inwards to generate a characteristic vortex pattern over the upper surface. The lower extremity of this vortex remains attached to

3172-541: A trijet aircraft) and Boeing worked on new widebody twinjet designs that would become the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 , respectively. The MD-11's long range advantage was brief as it was soon nullified by the Airbus A330-300 and the extended-range Boeing 767-300ER and Boeing 777-200ER. The Airbus A320 twinjet stands out as the most produced jet airliner. The Boeing 777X is the world's largest twinjet, and

3294-405: A wide angle head-up display (HUD) with forward-looking infrared ( FLIR ), a voice and hands-on throttle and stick (Voice+ HOTAS ), a Helmet Mounted Symbology System ( HMSS ), a MIDS, a manual data-entry facility (MDEF) located on the left glareshield and a fully integrated aircraft warning system with a dedicated warnings panel (DWP). Reversionary flying instruments, lit by LEDs , are located under

3416-728: Is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age , when it proved suitable for high-speed subsonic and  supersonic flight. At the other end of the speed scale, the Rogallo flexible wing proved a practical design for the hang glider and other ultralight aircraft . The delta wing form has unique aerodynamic characteristics and structural advantages. Many design variations have evolved over

3538-499: Is a further development package aiming at integrating improved missiles (Meteor, Taurus, AMRAAM, GBU, JDAM). Germany is to replace the Eurofighter with the New Generation Fighter (NGF), co-developed with France and Spain. The Global Combat Air Programme is a ‘6th Generation’ fighter envisioned as a replacement for the RAF and Italian Air Force (AM), part of the UK's wider Future Combat Air System . The Typhoon

3660-435: Is a highly agile aircraft both at supersonic and at low speeds, achieved through having an intentionally relaxed stability design. It has a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire control system providing artificial stability, as manual operation alone could not compensate for the inherent instability. The fly-by-wire system is described as "carefree", and prevents the pilot from exceeding the permitted manoeuvre envelope. Roll control

3782-422: Is being studied for integration on the Typhoon. Eurojet is attempting to find funding to test thrust vectoring control (TVC) nozzles on a flight demonstrator. In April 2014, BAE announced new wind tunnel tests to assess the aerodynamic characteristics of conformal fuel tanks (CFTs). The CFTs, which can be fitted to any Tranche 3 aircraft, could carry 1,500 litres each to increase the Typhoon's combat radius by

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3904-430: Is comfortable with delivering integration of the U.S. B61 nuclear weapon onto the aircraft, a process that requires U.S. certification. Paltzo said he was confident the U.S. government would not use the certification requirements of the weapon as "leverage" to force Germany towards a U.S. platform. A next-generation electronic warfare suite has been planned by the four-country consortium. In November 2019, Airbus proposed

4026-409: Is controlled by means of a centre stick (or control stick) and left hand throttles , designed on a Hand on Throttle and Stick (HOTAS) principle to lower pilot workload . Emergency escape is provided by a Martin-Baker Mk.16A ejection seat , with the canopy being jettisoned by two rocket motors. The HMSS was delayed by years but should have been operational by late 2011. Standard g -force protection

4148-452: Is extremely interesting to consider the potential benefits in the air-to-surface configuration thanks to the increased variety and flexibility of stores that can be carried." In April 2016, Finmeccanica (now Leonardo) demonstrated the air-to-ground capabilities of its Mode   5 Reverse- Identification friend or foe (IFF) system which showed that it is possible to give pilots the ability to distinguish between friendly and enemy platforms in

4270-452: Is keen to make use of the engine's growth potential to boost thrust by around 15% as well as improve fuel efficiency and range. This will be combined with a new design and enlarged 1,800-litre fuel tank. The aircraft currently is fitted with 1,000-litre fuel tanks. Other modifications will include the Aerodynamic Modification Kit, test flown in 2014, to improve maneuverability and handling, particularly with heavy weapon loads. Eurofighter says it

4392-434: Is known to have successfully flown although, in 1904, Lavezzani's hang glider featuring independent left and right triangular wings had left the ground, and Dunne's other tailless swept designs based on the same principle would fly. The practical delta wing was pioneered by German aeronautical designer Alexander Lippisch in the 1930s, using a thick cantilever wing without any tail. His first such designs, for which he coined

4514-474: Is not an issue, as one of the engines is more than powerful enough to keep the aircraft aloft (see below). Mostly, ETOPS certification involves maintenance and design requirements ensuring that a failure of one engine cannot make the other one fail also. The engines and related systems need to be independent and (in essence) independently maintained. ETOPS/LROPS is often incorrectly thought to apply only to long overwater flights, but it applies to any flight more than

4636-527: Is primarily achieved by use of the ailerons. Pitch control is by operation of the canards and ailerons, because the canards disturb airflow to inner elevons (flaps). The yaw control is done by a large, single rudder. Engines are fed by a chin double intake ramp situated below a splitter plate . The Typhoon features lightweight construction (82% composites consisting of 70% carbon fibre composite materials and 12% glass fibre reinforced composites) with an estimated lifespan of 6,000 flying hours. Although it

4758-489: Is provided by the full-cover anti- g trousers (FCAGTs), a specially developed g suit providing sustained protection up to nine g . German and Austrian Air Force pilots wear a hydrostatic g -suit called Libelle ( dragonfly ) Multi G Plus instead, which also provides protection to the arms, theoretically giving more complete g tolerance. Twinjet There are three common configurations of twinjet aircraft. The first, common on large aircraft such as airliners, has

4880-422: Is reported to offer a range of new capabilities, including the addition of a digital receiver, extending band coverage to low frequencies ( VHF / UHF ) and introducing an interferometric receiver with extremely precise geolocation functionalities. On the jamming side, EuroDASS is looking to low-band (VHF/UHF) jamming, more capable antennae, new ECM techniques, while protection against missile is to be enhanced through

5002-527: The compound delta , double delta or cranked arrow , the leading edge is not straight. Typically the inboard section has increased sweepback, creating a controlled high-lift vortex without the need for a foreplane. Examples include the Saab Draken fighter, the experimental General Dynamics F-16XL , and the Hawker Siddeley HS. 138 VTOL concept. The ogee delta (or ogival delta ) used on

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5124-600: The 2011 military intervention in Libya with the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Italian Air Force, performing aerial reconnaissance and ground-strike missions. The type has also taken primary responsibility for air-defence duties for the majority of customer nations. In the UK, as early as 1971, work commenced on the development of a manoeuvrable, tactical aircraft to replace the SEPECAT Jaguar (that

5246-518: The 777X in November 2013, while then-CEO Fabrice Brégier preferred to focus on product improvement rather than all-new concepts for 10 years. It would have a 10-abreast economy like the 777; its 565 m (6,081 sq ft) wing, slightly more than the 747-8, would have an 80 m (262 ft) span, as wide as the A380 , for a 892,900 lb (405 t) MTOW compared to 775,000 lb (352 t) for

5368-620: The APG-65 -based MSD2000 (a collaboration between Hughes , AEG and GEC-Marconi ). An agreement was reached after UK Defence Secretary Tom King assured his West German counterpart Gerhard Stoltenberg that the British government would approve the project and allow the GEC subsidiary Marconi Electronic Systems to acquire Ferranti Defence Systems from its parent, the Ferranti Group, which

5490-399: The Boeing 777 , Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 have matched or surpassed older quad-jet designs such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 in these aspects, and twinjets have been more successful in terms of sales than quad-jets. In 2012, Airbus studied a 470-seat twinjet competitor for the Boeing 747-8 with lower operating costs expected between 2023 and 2030, revived after Boeing launched

5612-419: The Dassault Rafale use a combination of canard foreplanes and a delta wing. Like other tailless aircraft , the tailless delta wing is not suited to high wing loadings and requires a large wing area for a given aircraft weight. The most efficient aerofoils are unstable in pitch and the tailless type must use a less efficient design and therefore a bigger wing. Techniques used include: The main advantages of

5734-584: The F-106 Delta Dart and B-58 Hustler . At high supersonic speeds, the shock cone from the leading edge root angles further back to lie along the wing surface behind the leading edge. It is no longer possible for the sideways flow to occur and the aerodynamic characteristics change considerably. It is in this flight regime that the waverider design, as used on the North American XB-70 Valkyrie , becomes practicable. Here,

5856-562: The Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS). The entire Typhoon fleet passed the 500,000 flying hours milestone in 2018. As of August 2019, a total of 623 orders had been received. In July 2016, the ten-year Typhoon Total Availability Enterprise (TyTAN) support deal between the RAF and industry partners BAE and Leonardo was announced that aims to reduce the Typhoon's per-hour operating cost by 30 to 40 percent. This should equate to

5978-753: The 777-200LR variant has the world's second longest aircraft range (behind Airbus A350-900 ULR). Other Boeing twinjets include the 767 , 757 (With the latter having stopped production, but still in commercial service) and 787 . Competitor Airbus produces the A320 family , the A330 , and the A350 . Some modern commercial airplanes still use four engines ( quad-jets ) like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 , which are classified as very large aircraft (over 400 seats in mixed-class configurations). Four engines are still used on

6100-432: The 777X, with a composite structure for an operating empty weight of 467,400 lb (212 t), and a 8,150 nmi (15,090 km) range at Mach 0.85. When flying far from diversionary airports (so called ETOPS/LROPS flights), the aircraft must be able to reach an alternate on the remaining engine within a specified time in case of one engine failure. When aircraft are certified according to ETOPS standards, thrust

6222-692: The Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner is similar, but with the two sections and cropped wingtip merged into a smooth ogee curve. Tailed delta  – adds a conventional tailplane (with horizontal tail surfaces), to improve handling. Common on Soviet types such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 . Canard delta  – Many modern fighter aircraft, such as the JAS 39 Gripen , the Eurofighter Typhoon and

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6344-840: The British in a $ 1.9bn contract for Meteor on Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale and the Saab Gripen. The protracted contract negotiations pushed the ISD to August 2012, and it was further put back by Eurofighter's failure to make trials aircraft available to the Meteor partners. In 2014 the "second element of the Phase   1 Enhancements package known as 'P1Eb'" was announced, allowing "Typhoon to realise both its air-to-air and air-to-ground capability to full effect". In 2011 Flight International reported that budgetary pressures being encountered by

6466-760: The British preference for a new version of the RB199 to power the aircraft versus the French preference for the new Snecma M88 . Consequently, the Panavia partners (MBB, BAe and Aeritalia ) launched the Agile Combat Aircraft (ACA) programme in April 1982. BAe designers agreed with the overall configuration of the proposed MBB TKF-90, although they rejected some of its more ambitious features such as engine vectoring nozzles and vented trailing edge controls –

6588-436: The EAP. Initial requirements were: UK: 250 aircraft, Germany: 250, Italy: 165 and Spain: 100. The share of the production work was divided among the countries in proportion to their projected procurement – BAe (33%), DASA (33%), Aeritalia (21%), and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) (13%). The Munich-based Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH was established in 1986 to manage development of the project and EuroJet Turbo GmbH ,

6710-432: The Eurofighter designated FGR4 by the RAF is a Tranche 1, block 5. Batch   1 covered block 1, but batch   2 covered blocks 2, 2B and 5. On 25 May 2011 the 100th production aircraft, ZK315, rolled off the production line at Warton. In 1985 the estimated cost of 250 UK aircraft was £7 billion. By 1997 the estimated cost was £17 billion; by 2003, £20 billion, and the in-service date (2003, defined as

6832-623: The Eurofighter prototype took place in Bavaria on 27 March 1994, flown by DASA chief test pilot Peter Weger. In December 2004, Eurofighter Typhoon IPA4 began three months of Cold Environmental Trials (CET) at the Vidsel Air Base in Sweden, the purpose of which was to verify the operational behaviour of the aircraft and its systems in temperatures between −25 and 31 °C. The maiden flight of Instrumented Production Aircraft   7 (IPA7),

6954-580: The Eurofighter the sort of "knife-fight in a phone box" turning capability enjoyed by rivals such as Boeing's F/A-18E/F or the Lockheed Martin F-16, without sacrificing the transonic and supersonic high-energy agility inherent to its delta wing-canard configuration. Eurofighter Project Pilot Germany Raffaele Beltrame said: "The handling qualities appeared to be markedly improved, providing more manoeuvrability, agility and precision while performing tasks representative of in-service operations. And it

7076-600: The Hornet, which would therefore likely have met and closed off most potential export markets for the P.96. BAe then produced two new proposals: the P.106B, a single-engined lightweight fighter , superficially resembling the JAS 39 Gripen , and the twin-engine P.110. The RAF rejected the P.106 concept on the grounds it had "half the effectiveness of the two-engined aircraft at two-thirds of the cost". The ECF project collapsed in 1981 for several reasons, including differing requirements, Dassault's insistence on "design leadership" and

7198-463: The Javelin following the early loss of an aircraft to such conditions. Gloster's design team had reportedly opted to use a tailed delta configuration out of necessity, seeking to achieve effective manoeuvrability at relatively high speeds for the era while also requiring suitable controllability when being flown at the slower landing speeds desired. A lifting-canard delta can offer a smaller shift in

7320-533: The RAF's first two of 91 Tranche   2 aircraft, were delivered to RAF Coningsby . In July 2009, after almost 2 years of negotiations, the planned Tranche 3 purchase was split into 2 parts and the Tranche 3A contract was signed by the partner nations. The "Tranche 3B" order did not go ahead. The Eurofighter Typhoon is unique in modern combat aircraft in that there are four separate assembly lines. Each partner company assembles its own national aircraft, but builds

7442-587: The Second World War brought a halt to flight testing of the Pa-22 , although work continued for a time after the project garnered German attention. During the postwar era, Payen flew an experimental tailless delta jet, the Pa.49 , in 1954, as well as the tailless pusher-configuration Arbalète series from 1965. Further derivatives based on Payen's work were proposed but ultimately went undeveloped. Following

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7564-544: The Second World War, developed the theory of the thin delta wing for supersonic flight. First published in January 1945, his approach contrasted with that of Lippisch on thick delta wings. The thin delta wing first flew on the Convair XF-92 in 1948, making it the first delta-winged jet plane to fly. It provided a successful basis for all practical supersonic deltas and the configuration became widely adopted. During

7686-585: The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 , the Tupolev first flying in 1968. While both Concorde and the Tu-144 prototype featured an ogival delta configuration, production models of the Tu-144 differed by changing to a double delta wing. The delta wings required these airliners to adopt a higher angle of attack at low speeds than conventional aircraft; in the case of Concorde, lift was maintained by allowed

7808-495: The UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, manages the project and is the prime customer. The aircraft's development effectively began in 1983 with the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, a multinational collaboration among the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Previously, Germany, Italy and the UK had jointly developed and deployed the Panavia Tornado combat aircraft and desired to collaborate on

7930-480: The US, typically to lower its drag, resulting in the replacement of its large vertical stabilizer with a smaller and more conventional counterpart, along with a normal cockpit canopy taken from a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star . The work of French designer Nicolas Roland Payen somewhat paralleled that of Lippisch. During the 1930s, he had developed a tandem delta configuration with a straight fore wing and steep delta aft wing, similar to that of Causarás. The outbreak of

8052-467: The West German and Italian governments wavered on the agreement and the British government and private finance had to provide £100 million to keep the programme from ending. In April 1986, the British Aerospace EAP was rolled out at BAe Warton. The EAP first flew on 6 August 1986. The Eurofighter bears a strong resemblance to the EAP. Design work continued over the next five years using data from

8174-489: The aircraft, bringing the procurement total to 680 aircraft as of November 2023. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a highly agile aircraft, designed to be an effective dogfighter in combat. Later production aircraft have been increasingly better equipped to undertake air-to-surface strike missions and to be compatible with an increasing number of different armaments and equipment, including Storm Shadow , Brimstone and Marte ER missiles. The Typhoon had its combat debut during

8296-671: The airflow over the main wing. This enables more extreme manoeuvres, improves low-speed handling and reduces the takeoff run and landing speed. During the 1960s, this configuration was considered to be radical, but Saab's design team judged that it was the optimal approach available for satisfying the conflicting performance demands for the Viggen, which including favourable STOL performance, supersonic speed, low turbulence sensitivity during low level flight, and efficient lift for subsonic flight. The close-coupled canard has since become common on supersonic fighter aircraft. Notable examples include

8418-544: The alliance of Rolls-Royce , MTU Aero Engines , FiatAvio (now Avio ) and ITP for development of the EJ200 . The aircraft was known as Eurofighter EFA from the late 1980s until it was renamed EF 2000 in 1992. By 1990, the selection of the aircraft's radar had become a major stumbling-block. The UK, Italy and Spain supported the Ferranti Defence Systems-led ECR-90 , while Germany preferred

8540-468: The amount of money already spent on development, the number of jobs dependent on the project, and the binding commitments on each partner government, Kohl was unable to withdraw; "Rühe's predecessors had locked themselves into the project by a punitive penalty system of their own devising." In 1995 concerns over workshare appeared. Since the formation of Eurofighter the workshare split had been agreed at 33/33/21/13 (United Kingdom/Germany/Italy/Spain) based on

8662-400: The center of lift with increasing Mach number compared to a conventional tail configuration. An unloaded or free-floating canard can allow a safe recovery from a high angle of attack. Depending on its design, a canard surface may increase or decrease longitudinal stability of the aircraft. A canard delta foreplane creates its own trailing vortex. If this vortex interferes with the vortex of

8784-426: The centre of the area covered by the vortex. In the subsonic regime, the behaviour of a delta wing is generally similar to that of a swept wing. A characteristic sideways element to the airflow develops. In this condition, lift is maximised along the leading edge of the wing, where the air is turned most sharply to follow its contours. Especially for a slender delta, the centre of lift approximates to halfway back along

8906-445: The cost of their Typhoon project up to December 2010 at €11.718   billion, up from an original €9.255   billion and implying a system cost for their 73 aircraft of €160   million. On 31 March 2009, a Eurofighter Typhoon fired an AIM-120 AMRAAM whilst having its radar in passive mode for the first time; the necessary target data for the missile was acquired by the radar of a second Eurofighter Typhoon and transmitted using

9028-590: The date of delivery of the first aircraft to the RAF) was 54 months late. After 2003, the MoD refused to release updated cost-estimates on the grounds of commercial sensitivity. However, in 2011, the National Audit Office estimated the UK's "assessment, development, production and upgrade costs eventually hit £22.9 billion" and total programme costs would reach £37   billion. By 2007, Germany estimated

9150-625: The early Eurofighter prototypes to optimise the low observability characteristics of the aircraft from the early 1990s. Testing at Warton on the DA4 prototype measured the RCS of the aircraft and investigated the effects of a variety of RAM coatings and composites. Another measure to reduce the likelihood of discovery is the use of passive sensors (PIRATE IRST), which minimises the radiation of treacherous electronic emissions. While canards generally have poor stealth characteristics from side because of corner to hull,

9272-574: The famous British Second World War fighter, the Supermarine Spitfire ) had also been considered and rejected for the same reason early in the development programme. In September 1998, contracts were signed for production of 148 Tranche   1 aircraft and procurement of long lead-time items for Tranche   2 aircraft. In March 2008, the final Tranche   1 aircraft was delivered to the German Air Force. On 21 October 2008,

9394-457: The first fully equipped Tranche   2 aircraft, took place from EADS' Manching airfield on 16 January 2008. The first production contract was signed on 30 January 1998 between Eurofighter GmbH, Eurojet and NETMA. The procurement totals were as follows: the UK 232, Germany 180, Italy 121, and Spain 87. Production was again allotted according to procurement: BAe (37.42%), DASA (29.03%), Aeritalia (19.52%), and CASA (14.03%). On 2 September 1998,

9516-530: The first operational jet fighters to feature a tailless delta wing when they entered service in 1956. Dassault's interest in the delta wing produced the Dassault Mirage family of combat aircraft, especially the highly successful Mirage III . Amongst other attributes, the Mirage III was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizontal flight. The tailed delta configuration

9638-402: The flight control system is designed to maintain the elevon trim and canards at an angle at which they have the smallest RCS. The Typhoon features a glass cockpit without any conventional instruments. It incorporates three full colour multi-function head-down displays (MHDDs) (the formats on which are manipulated by means of softkeys, XY cursor, and voice ( Direct Voice Input or DVI) command),

9760-524: The foreplane can increase drag at supersonic speeds and hence reduce the aircraft's maximum speed. Triangular stabilizing fins for rockets were described as early as 1529-1556 by the Austrian military engineer Conrad Haas and in the 17th century by the Polish-Lithuanian military engineer Kazimierz Siemienowicz . However, a true lifting wing in delta form did not appear until 1867, when it

9882-665: The formation of large low pressure vortices over the entire upper wing surface. Its typical landing speed was 170 miles per hour (274 km/h), considerably higher than subsonic airliners. Multiple proposed successors, such as the Zero Emission Hyper Sonic Transport ZEHST), have reportedly adopted a similar configuration to that Concorde's basic design, thus the Delta wing remains a likely candidate for future supersonic civil endeavours. During and after WWII, Francis and Gertrude Rogallo developed

10004-472: The four original partner nations were limiting upgrades. For example, the four original partner nations were reluctant at that stage to fund enhancements that extend the aircraft's air-to-ground capability, such as integration of the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missile. Tranche 3 aircraft ESM/ECM enhancements have focused on improving radiating jamming power with antenna modifications, while EuroDASS

10126-407: The front. Some external weapons are mounted semi-recessed into the aircraft, partially shielding these missiles from incoming radar waves. In addition radar-absorbent materials (RAM), developed primarily by EADS /DASA, coat many of the most significant reflectors, such as the wing leading edges, the intake edges and interior, the rudder surrounds, and strakes. The manufacturers carried out tests on

10248-421: The helmet can monitor the pilot's exact head position so it always knows exactly what information to display. The system is compatible with ANR , a 3-D audio threats system and 3-D communications; these are available as customer options. In 2015, BAE was awarded a £1.7   million contract to study the feasibility of a common weapon launcher that could be capable of carrying multiple weapons and weapon types on

10370-569: The idea of a flexible wing which could be collapsed for storage. Francis saw an application in spacecraft recovery and NASA became interested. In 1961 Ryan flew the XV-8 , an experimental "flying Jeep" or "fleep". The flexible wing chosen for it was a delta and in use it billowed out into a double-cone profile which gave it aerodynamic stability. Although tested but ultimately never used for spacecraft recovery, this design soon became popular for hang gliders and ultra-light aircraft and has become known as

10492-645: The integration of new weaponry, performance enhancements and additional capabilities to the Eurofighter Typhoon. This is similar to that being performed as part of the UK's Project Centurion. Integration of air-to-ground weapons already has begun on German Typhoons as part of Project Odin. Among the weapons being offered are the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile for the anti-ship mission and the Taurus cruise missile. The consortium

10614-530: The introduction of ETOPS rules that allowed twin-engine jets to fly long-distance routes that were previously off-limits to them, Airbus was able to further develop the A300 as a medium- to long-range airliner to increased sales; Boeing launched its widebody twinjet, the Boeing 767 , in response. In the 1980s the Boeing 727 was discontinued, as its central engine bay would require a prohibitively expensive redesign to accommodate quieter high-bypass turbofans, and it

10736-449: The largest cargo aircraft capable of transporting outsize cargo , including strategic airlifters . Twin-jets tend to be more fuel-efficient than trijet (three engine) and quad-jet (four engine) aircraft. As fuel efficiency in airliners is a high priority, many airlines have been increasingly retiring trijet and quad-jet designs in favor of twinjets in the twenty-first century. The trijet designs were phased out first, in particular due to

10858-460: The late 1940s, the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation became interested in the delta wing, its proposals led to the experimental Fairey Delta 1 being produced to Air Ministry Specification E.10/47 . A subsequent experimental aircraft, the Fairey Delta 2 set a new World air speed record on 10 March 1956, achieving 1,132 mph (1,811 km/h) or Mach 1.73. This raised

10980-487: The late 1940s. When used with a T-tail, as in the Gloster Javelin , like other wings a delta wing can give rise to a " deep stall " in which the high angle of attack at the stall causes the turbulent wake of the stalled wing to envelope the tail. This makes the elevator ineffective and the airplane cannot recover from the stall. In the case of the Javelin, a stall warning device was developed and implemented for

11102-461: The leading edge root. This allows air below the leading edge to flow out, up and around it, then back inwards creating a sideways flow pattern similar to subsonic flow. The lift distribution and other aerodynamic characteristics are strongly influenced by this sideways flow. The rearward sweep angle lowers the airspeed normal to the leading edge of the wing, thereby allowing the aircraft to fly at high subsonic , transonic, or supersonic speed, while

11224-428: The leading edge. The sideways effect also leads to an overall reduction in lift and in some circumstances can also lead to an increase in drag. It may be countered through the use of leading-edge slots, wing fences and related devices. With a large enough angle of rearward sweep, in the transonic to low supersonic speed range the wing's leading edge remains behind the shock wave boundary or shock cone created by

11346-402: The main delta wing, this can adversely affect the airflow over the wing and cause unwanted and even dangerous behaviour. In the close-coupled configuration, the canard vortex couples with the main vortex to enhance its benefits and maintain controlled airflow through a wide range of speeds and angles of attack. This allows both improved manoeuvrability and lower stalling speeds, but the presence of

11468-410: The more complicated design and maintenance issues of the middle engine mounted on the stabilizer. Early twinjets were not permitted by ETOPS restrictions to fly long-haul trans-oceanic routes, as it was thought that they were unsafe in the event of failure of one engine, so quad-jets were used. Quad-jets also had higher carrying capacity than comparable earlier twinjets. However, later twinjets such as

11590-454: The multinational Eurofighter Typhoon , France's Dassault Rafale , Saab's own Gripen (a successor to the Viggen) and Israel's IAI Kfir . One of the main reasons for its popularity has been the high level of agility in manoeuvring that it is capable of. When supersonic transport (SST) aircraft were developed, the tailless ogival delta wing was chosen for both the Anglo-French Concorde and

11712-444: The name "Delta", used a very gentle angle so that the wing appeared almost straight and the wing tips had to be cropped sharply (see below). His first such delta flew in 1931, followed by four successively improved examples. These prototypes were not easy to handle at low speed and none saw widespread use. During the latter years of World War II , Alexander Lippisch refined his ideas on the high-speed delta, substantially increasing

11834-464: The number of units being ordered by each contributing nation, all the nations then reduced their orders. The UK cut its orders from 250 to 232, Germany from 250 to 140, Italy from 165 to 121 and Spain from 100 to 87. According to these order levels the workshare split should have been 39/24/22/15 UK/Germany/Italy/Spain, however Germany was unwilling to give up such a large amount of work. In January 1996, after much negotiation between German and UK partners,

11956-499: The record above 1,000 mph for the first time and broke the previous record by 310 mph, or 37 per cent; never before had the record been raised by such a large margin. In its original tailless form, the thin delta was used extensively by the American aviation company Convair and by the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation . The supersonic Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and transonic Douglas F4D Skyray were two of

12078-606: The remaining 50% to be provided by industry. MBB and Aeritalia signed up and it was agreed that the aircraft would be produced at two sites: BAe Warton and an MBB factory in Germany. In May 1983, BAe announced a contract with the MoD for the development and production of an ACA demonstrator, the Experimental Aircraft Programme . In 1983, Italy, Germany, France, the UK and Spain launched the "Future European Fighter Aircraft" (FEFA) programme. The aircraft

12200-551: The replacement of Tranche 1 units in German service. The Luftwaffe ordered 15 ECR electronic warfare aircraft for the Luftgestützte Wirkung im Elektromagnetischen Spektrum (luWES) requirement in March 2022. The 15 ECR EW aircraft will be transformed from existing German Typhoons and will be equipped with AGM-88E AARGM Anti-radiation missiles . The aircraft are expected to be NATO-certified by 2030. The Tranche 4PE

12322-676: The requirement that an aircraft be able to continue a takeoff if an engine fails after the takeoff decision speed is reached. Thus, with all engines operating, trijets must be able to produce at least 150% of the minimum thrust required to climb and quad-jets 133%. Conversely, since a twinjet will lose half of its total thrust if an engine fails, they are required to produce 200% of the minimum thrust required to climb when both engines are operating. Because of this, twinjets typically have higher thrust-to-weight ratios than aircraft with more engines, and are thus able to accelerate and climb faster. Delta wing#Design variations A delta wing

12444-424: The same parts for all aircraft (including exports); Premium AEROTEC (main centre fuselage), EADS CASA (right wing, leading edge slats), BAE Systems (BAE) (front fuselage (including foreplanes), canopy, dorsal spine, tail fin, inboard flaperons, rear fuselage section) and Leonardo (left wing, outboard flaperons , rear fuselage sections). Production is divided into three tranches (see table below). Tranches are

12566-439: The subsonic lifting characteristics of the airflow over the wing are maintained. Within this flight regime, drooping the leading edge within the shock cone increases lift, but not drag to any significant extent. Such conical leading edge droop was introduced on the production Convair F-102A Delta Dagger at the same time that the prototype design was reworked to include area-ruling . It also appeared on Convair's next two deltas,

12688-416: The surface and also accelerates the airflow, maintaining lift. For intermediate sweep angles, a retractable "moustache" or fixed leading-edge root extension (LERX) may be added to encourage and stabilise vortex formation. The ogee or "wineglass" double-curve, seen for example on Concorde , incorporates this forward extension into the profile of the wing. In this condition, the centre of lift approximates to

12810-662: The sweepback of the wing's leading edge. An experimental glider, the DM-1 , was built to test the aerodynamics of the proposed P.13a high-speed interceptor . Following the end of hostilities, the DM-1 was completed on behalf of the United States and the shipped to Langley Field in Virginia for examination by NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, forerunner of today's NASA ) It underwent significant alterations in

12932-438: The system cost (aircraft and training, plus spare parts) at €120   million and said it was in perpetual increase. On 17 June 2009, Germany ordered 31 aircraft of Tranche 3A for €2.8   billion, leading to a system cost of €90   million per aircraft. The UK's Committee of Public Accounts reported that mismanagement of the project had helped increase the cost of each aircraft by seventy-five percent. The Spanish MoD put

13054-505: The tailless delta are structural simplicity and light weight, combined with low aerodynamic drag. These properties helped to make the Dassault Mirage III one of the most widely manufactured supersonic fighters of all time. A conventional tail stabiliser allows the main wing to be optimised for lift and therefore to be smaller and more highly loaded. Development of aircraft equipped with this configuration can be traced back to

13176-589: The third configuration both engines are within the fuselage, side-by-side, used by most fighters since the 1960s. Later fighters using this configuration include the Su-27 'Flanker', the F-15 Eagle , and the F-22 Raptor . The first twinjet to fly was the German fighter prototype Heinkel He 280 , flying in April 1941 with a pair of nacelled Heinkel HeS 8 axial-flow turbojets. The twinjet configuration

13298-569: The war, the British developed a number of subsonic jet aircraft that harnessed data gathered from Lippisch's work. One such aircraft, the Avro 707 research aircraft, made its first flight in 1949. British military aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan (a strategic bomber ) and Gloster Javelin (an all-weather fighter) were among the first delta-equipped aircraft to enter production. Whereas the Vulcan

13420-450: The way. On large passenger jets, the cost of the engines makes up a significant proportion of the plane's final cost. Each engine also requires separate service, paperwork, and certificates. Having two larger engines as opposed to three or four smaller engines will typically significantly reduce both the purchase and maintenance costs of a plane. Regulations governing the required thrust levels for transport aircraft are typically based upon

13542-526: The years, with and without additional stabilising surfaces. The long root chord of the delta wing and minimal area outboard make it structurally efficient. It can be built stronger, stiffer and at the same time lighter than a swept wing of equivalent aspect ratio and lifting capability. Because of this it is easy and relatively inexpensive to build—a substantial factor in the success of the MiG-21 and Mirage aircraft series. Its long root chord also allows

13664-503: The £425 million Project Centurion to ensure the Typhoon was able to assume the precision strike duties of the ageing Tornado. The upgrade was delivered under different phases: Phase 1 standard aircraft were used operationally for the first time as part of Operation Shader over Iraq and Syria in 2018. On 18 December 2018 the RAF approved release to service for the full Project Centurion package. On 24 April 2018, Airbus announced its offer to replace Germany's Panavia Tornado fleet, proposing

13786-681: Was patented by J.W. Butler and E. Edwards in a design for a low-aspect-ratio, dart-shaped rocket-propelled aeroplane. This was followed by various similarly dart-shaped proposals, such as a biplane version by Butler and Edwards, and a jet-propelled version by the Russian Nicholas de Telescheff . In 1909 a variant with a canard foreplane was experimented with by the Spanish sculptor Ricardo Causarás. Also in 1909, British aeronautical pioneer J. W. Dunne patented his tailless stable aircraft with conical wing development. The patent included

13908-439: Was a classic tailless design, the Javelin incorporated a tailplane in order to improve low-speed handling and high-speed manoeuvrability, as well as to allow a greater centre of gravity range. Gloster proposed a refinement of the Javelin that would have, amongst other changes, decreased wing thickness in order to achieve supersonic speeds of up to Mach 1.6. The American aerodynamicist Robert T. Jones , who worked at NACA during

14030-531: Was adopted by the TsAGI (Central Aero and Hydrodynamic Institute, Moscow ), to improve high angle-of-attack handling, manoeuvrability and centre of gravity range over a pure delta planform. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 ("Fishbed") became the most widely built combat aircraft of the 1970s. Through the 1960s, the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab AB developed a close-coupled canard delta configuration, placing

14152-668: Was adopted in September 1998 and the first production contracts were also signed that year. The sudden end of the Cold War reduced European demand for fighter aircraft and led to debate over the aircraft's cost and work share and protracted the Typhoon's development: the Typhoon entered operational service in 2003 and is now in service with the air forces of Austria , Italy , Germany , the United Kingdom , Spain , Saudi Arabia and Oman . Kuwait and Qatar have also ordered

14274-466: Was in financial and legal difficulties. GEC thus withdrew its support for the MSD2000. The financial burdens placed on Germany by reunification caused Helmut Kohl to make an election promise to cancel the Eurofighter. In early to mid-1991 German Defence Minister Volker Rühe sought to withdraw Germany from the project in favour of using Eurofighter technology in a cheaper, lighter plane. Because of

14396-440: Was not designated a stealth fighter , measures were taken to reduce the Typhoon's radar cross section (RCS), especially from the frontal aspect; An example of these measures is that the Typhoon has jet inlets that conceal the front of the engines (a strong radar target) from radar. Many important potential radar targets, such as the wing, canard and fin leading edges, are highly swept so they will reflect radar energy well away from

14518-656: Was soon supplanted by twinjets for the narrow-body market; Airbus with the A320 , and Boeing with the 757 and updated "classic" variants of the 737 . During that decade only McDonnell Douglas continued development of the trijet design with an update to the DC-10 , the MD-11 , which initially had a range advantage over its closest medium wide-body competitors which were twinjets, the in-production Boeing 767 and Airbus A300/A310. In contrast to McDonnell Douglas sticking with their existing trijet configuration, Airbus (which never produced

14640-609: Was then about to enter service with the RAF). This work soon expanded to include an air superiority capability. A specification titled Air Staff Target 403 (AST 403), in 1972, led to the Hawker P.96 , an unbuilt design with a relatively conventional planform , including a separate tail structure, in the late 1970s. Simultaneously, in West Germany , the requirement for a new fighter had resulted in competition between Dornier , VFW-Fokker and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) for

14762-443: Was to have short take off and landing (STOL) and beyond visual range (BVR) capabilities. In 1984, France reiterated its requirement for a carrier-capable version and demanded a leading role. Italy, West Germany and the UK opted out and established a new EFA programme. In Turin on 2 August 1985, West Germany, the UK and Italy agreed to go ahead with the Eurofighter; and confirmed France, along with Spain, had chosen not to proceed as

14884-484: Was used for short-range narrow-bodied aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 737 . The Airbus A300 was initially not successful when first produced as a short-range widebody, as airlines operating the A300 on short-haul routes had to reduce frequencies to try and fill the high-capacity aircraft, and lost passengers to airlines operating more frequent narrow-body flights. However, after

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