flying Typhoon singapore!

SINGAPORE: One of the three fighters in contention to replace Singapore’s aging A4-Skyhawks is the Eurofighter Typhoon. Recently, a test pilot for this state-of-the art jet was in town and he told Channel NewsAsia why he thought the Eurofighter might win the dogfight for the more than US$1 billion contract.

Craig Penrice has more than 4,500 hours of flying experience in over 40 different types of aircraft.

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Among them the American Boeing F-15 and the Eurofighter Typhoon, which are currently going head-to-head in a dogfight with the French Rafale to replace Singapore’s Skyhawks.

But Mr Penrice, who is now testing the Typhoon, considers it the better of the two and the jewel in the crown is its cockpit.

“Things like being able to command the plane through voice control. I can do many tasks by simply talking to the plane. In my helmet, I have tactical information so wherever I’m looking, I don’t have to look at the displays in the cockpit. Wherever I’m looking behind, outside I still have information available to me, this head-up-head-out looking out the plane is vitally important,” he said.

BAE Systems which builds the Typhoon has been eyeing the Singapore contract for more than 4 years now.

Buying a new generation fighter jet is not a simple task.

It’s much more complex than buying a new car for example. The technical details are so sophisticated and complex, BAE Systems specialists get questioned by MINDEF officials on technical issues a few times a day.

This is why Mr Penrice was in town recently to give the Defence Ministry his perspective as a Typhoon test pilot.

“Because we know what it is that the service pilot needs out of his airplane. Engineers appreciate that knowledge and they do listen to us. But with all the best intention something doesn’t quite work as envisaged, we report on that and we discuss it and we come up with a plan to improve it,” added Mr Penrice.

BAE Systems’ Typhoon Export Programme Director, Andy Wilson, said: “The next phase we’ll have to put formal information in front of the authorities here in terms of the specifications and costing data. All of that will be evaluated and assessed by the Singappore government before making their preferred choice.”

Singaporeans may get a glimpse of the Eurofighter Typhoon next month at Asian Aerospace.

But the Defence Ministry is not expected to make its final choice till 2005. – CNA