WATCH | Brand new Saudi Eurofighter jets in Malta
Two newly acquired Eurofighter Typhoon F2 fighter jets by the Royal Saudi Air Force have made a stop-over in Malta on their way to Riyadh.
Filmed by Nicolai Schembri/includes radio talk
On September 17, 2007, the RSAF signed a €6.4billion deal with BAe for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons with a unit cost of €63million each. Discussions are underway for buying a further 72 Typhoons.
The first delivery of the RSAF Typhoons was on 26/06/2009.
Till now 16 Typhoon have been delivered to the RSAF including the two that landed in Malta, with a Maiden flightJuly 1, 2010 at Bae Warton.
The Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multirole aircraft designed and built by Alenia Aeronautica, BAe Systems and EADS working by a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986.
The project is managed by the NATO Eurofigher and Tornado Management Agency.
The Typhoon made its first flight on the March 27, 1994 and was introduced to military service on the 4th August 2003. It is currently in use with the Royal Air Force, Luftwaffe, Italian air Force, Spanish Air Force, Austrian Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force. More than 200 Typhoons have been built and 470 are on order.
The Typhoon is being produced under 3 separate contracts (named “Tranches”), each for aircraft with generally improved capabilities. Currently the Typhoon Tranche 3 is under production and will enter service in 2012.
The Typhoon has a maximum speed of over at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound (2,495km/h). It is also equipped with the ‘supercruise’ which allows it to travel at Mach1.1-1.5 without the use of the afterburner. It’s 2 EuroJet 200 engines give the Typhoon a thrust to weight ratio of 1.15 which give the Typhoon the capability to climb to 62,000ft (18.89km) in one minute.
It is capable of carrying various types of armament including Air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, bombs.
The Typhoon also has the Helmet Mounted Symbology System (HMSS) which allows the pilot to shoot a missile even if the opponent is behind the aircraft.
Late this August, the Typhoon claimed its first victim. A Saudi Air Force pilot has been killed when the Typhoon he was flying crashed at Moron Air Force Base in Spain.
The Spanish pilot managed to eject before the aircraft hit the ground.
The Saudi pilot also managed to eject but his parachute failed to deploy. All the Typhoons where grounded for about a month until a solution was found.
This grounding was a great risk, especially for the RAF since the Typhoon is their primary fighter and they only have 11 remaining Tornado F3s which will be retired by next April.
