The New European Fighter Jets
Posted on: Oct. 9th, 2004 - www.strategypage.comWhile much attention has been focused on the latest American warplanes, the F-22 and F-35, there are two other advanced fighters on the scene; the Eurofighter, from a consortium of European nations, and the French Rafale.
The Eurofighter was started as a replacement for a number of older aircraft in British, German, Spanish, and Italian service. It is a multi-role aircraft, designed to be difficult to spot on radar (but it is not as stealthy as new U.S. aircraft). Theoretically, this allows the aircraft to self-escort, which leads to a smaller strike package and fewer aircrews at risk in a given package. The Eurofighter's main air-to-air armament will be the Meteor air-to-air missile. This missile is said to have longer range than the AMRAAM (10-25% more than the AMRAAM's 90 kilometers) which will initially equip the Eurofighter, and will be manufactured by Matra and British Aerospace. Eurofighter is not a true stealth aircraft, particularly when loaded with missiles and bombs – the weapons are carried externally. The first aircraft were delivered to the RAF in June 2002, and its expected IOC is 2006.
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