Faults ground Typhoon before delivery to RAF

Faults ground Typhoon before delivery to RAF

Heather Tomlinson
Tuesday October 14, 2003

The Eurofighter Typhoon has been grounded after a series of faults occurred in flight. Engineers are working to discover the cause of the problem, which

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is the latest setback in years of troubles for the programme.
The Eurofighter is a joint effort between Britain’s largest defence manufacturer, BAE Systems and the Franco-German Eads, supported by the respective governments.

The grounding of the aircraft is a safety precaution after a series of problems were discovered while flying. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said that the flights of the Typhoon had been suspended after three “in flight incidents”. Two occurred where the undercarriage malfunctioned. The third incident involved a problem with the brakes on Friday. They failed when an aircraft was attempting to stop on a runway in Munich.

The spokesperson described the incidents as “teething problems”, and said that a back-up system meant that there was no damage to the aircraft.

She added that the first formal delivery of three aircraft to the RAF, which had been expected on Friday, was likely to be delayed. Last week Eurofighter jets were officially presented to the Spanish air force, but their intended participation in an air display during the country’s national day parade on Sunday had to be cancelled after the suspension of flights.

Officials said that they did not know how long the aircraft would be grounded.

Last month the German court of auditors strongly criticised the Eurofighter project for a series of technical glitches, including an inability to fire the aircrafts’ weapons.

In November, a aeroplane crashed in Spain. The project is now four years late and £1bn over budget.

A spokesperson for the Eurofighter corporation said that on Friday that one of the test aircraft had a problem braking, so it “seemed prudent” to ground the aircraft.

“It is not going to derail the whole program,” he said. He said that it was too early to tell which contractor was responsible for the problems.

The programme is often criticised as it was designed as a solution to the cold war problems. The government of German and Britain are both considering whether to decrease their orders for the aircraft.

how many eurobugers they will cut? they could begin with the mock up!lol

but at this rates, the growing weight, from 9.7t to 11.2t in 5 years, maybe in 2010 the engines would not be enough powerfull for a take off! giving to the MoD somes news mock up!