Presentation of the first Eurofighter for the German Air Force
Munich/Manching, 09 December 2002
The first Eurofighter for the German Air Force was presented today in Manching to the programme teams of the procurement branch of the German Ministry of Defence and the German Air Force. The two seater will be flown to the Air Force’s Technical Academy 1 at Kaufbeuren in January 2003 to be used in the training of the first ground crews.
Aloysius Rauen, President and CEO of EADS Military Aircraft, thanked all involved obn the customer side as well as in EADS for the outstanding effort. „The Eurofighter is an excellent product and has the potential to close the technology gap in modern fighter aircraft between the USA and Europe. Thus the programme secures the global competitiveness of Europe’s aerospace industry and strengthens Europe’s position in international security.“
Seven additional twin seaters are scheduled for delivery by 1 October to Fighter Wing 73 „Steinhoff“ with pilot training to start subsequently.
Starting in April the first six instructor pilots of the German Air Force will receive their training in Manching at EADS Military Aircraft. The Weapon System Support Centre, a cooperative venture between the German Air Force and EADS Military Aircraft, will go into service in Spring 2003 at Manching to be responsible for logistic support.
Eurofighter is a twin engined high performance new generation fighter aircraft jointly developed and produced in partnership with the four partner nations Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. With programme management by the governments resting on the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency, the industrial partners in the Eurofighter consortium are EADS in Germany and Spain, Alenia Aeronautica in Italy and BAE SYSTEMS in the United Kingdom. A production contract for 620 aircraft plus an option of further 90 for the four partner air forces was signed in January 1998. The German Air Force will receive 180 aircraft.
The prototypes and three production aircraft have flown almost 2,500 sorties and more than 2,100 flight hours.
EADS is a global aerospace and defense leader, and the world's second largest in terms of revenues. EADS maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technologies, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. Its family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft maker Airbus; Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter manufacturer; Astrium, the space company and MBDA, the world's second largest missile company. EADS is also the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft programme. EADS has more than 70 facilities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. It is active in markets around the world, including the U.S. and Asia.
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Wolfram Wolff
Phone: +49-89-607 25711
Fax: +49-89-607 22455
e-mail: wolfram.wolff@m.eads.net
