This is a story about technology, innovation but above all partnership, under the mark of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Italy has joined the UK’s development of the new European Common Radar System Mark 2 (ECRS Mk2) radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon. The first stage of collaboration, to take place this autumn, will see a team of engineers from Leonardo’s Nerviano, Milan-based radar site join the Mk2 development team at Leonardo’s Edinburgh site.
This Industrial Joint Team (IJT), as it is commonly known, represents the first step towards Italy’s full participation in the ECRS Mk2 programme.
A dedicated, transnational team that will make technological partnership its strong point. It will see Italian engineers contribute towards the successful development of the ECRS Mk2, while at the same time acquiring system design capabilities that will ensure that the Italian MOD has sovereign control over the new radar system at every stage of its operational life.
Davide Gramuglio, IPT Leader of Typhoon Captor Development and Evolution (Electronics Division, Nerviano), explained: “After many months of waiting due to the pandemic, our team is looking forward to deploying its skills in this new experience that, on the one hand, further strengthens the long-standing ties with our colleagues in Scotland and, on the other, launches a bridge of strategic partnership with the Italian Air Force".
It is the first step, but it carries with it the essence of the Eurofighter programme as a model and driving force for team working and innovation. Our engineers are eagerly looking forward to this new adventure which will see them working alongside their UK colleagues, with a single goal: to contribute to the successful development of a new state-of-the-art system, which will provide, as Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force (RAF) said, an ‘essential capability at pace, both to benefit Typhoon and to underpin the technology growth into the Future Combat Air System’ as well as to deliver a world-class radar and electronic warfare capability for the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon fleet.
Mk2, the world’s most advanced reconfigurable radar system
The ECRS Mk2 radar, currently being designed and built by Leonardo for integration onto the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft by BAE Systems, will be at the cutting edge of advanced fighter radar technologies. It features a multi-functional array (MFA) that will give Typhoon a world-leading reprogrammable electronic warfare capability, including wide band electronic attack, in addition to traditional radar functions. This means that it can find and then blind an adversary’s radar, increasing the Eurofighter Typhoon’s lethality and survivability, and the durability of other systems.
The initial system hardware will be delivered to BAE Systems,Warton in 2022 for aircraft integration and flight trials.
Eurofighter Typhoon: First in class
Chosen by nine air forces, over 680,000 active flight hours, from Europe to the South Atlantic and the Middle East. We are not talking about just any aircraft, but the world’s most advanced multi-role combat aircraft. This aircraft results from a long-term supranational, political and industrial strategic vision, which has enabled Europe to have its own security asset and benefit from a programme that has acted as a technological accelerator and a development engine that is unique in European history.
This guardian of the skies provides a QRA (Quick Reaction Alert - Takeoff on Alert) service 24/7 and 365 days a year, allowing National air defence to react promptly to any possible threat.
The Eurofighter Typhoon delivered to the Italian Air Force in October 2020
Notably, the Eurofighter Typhoon is built on the strength of 4 European nations : Italy, UK, Germany and Spain. The Eurofighter programme is managed by the Eurofighter GmbH consortium, a company based in Munich (Germany) owned by Leonardo, BAE Systems and Airbus Defence & Space for Germany and Spain.
Leonardo represents with its activities about 36% of the value of the entire programme, with its key role in the aeronautical and on-board electronics components, which sees the Company responsible for two primary sensors (radar and IRST), for the defensive suite (DASS), and for key parts of the avionics. Leonardo also plays a key role in the aircraft’s evolution, thanks to the new AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar which increases performance and competitiveness.
The Turin Caselle plant is now producing Eurofighters for the Kuwait Air Force, the first ones to be delivered in this highly advanced configuration.
A view of the final assembly line of the Eurofighter - Turin, Caselle
“Supersonic”curiosities
27 March 1994, Manching Germany: The first development prototype of the future Eurofighter, the Development Aircraft 1- Da1, made its first flight.
2003 and 2004: the Eurofighter Typhoon entered into service - in the Royal Air Force and Italian Air Force, respectively.
November 2018: it clocked up over 500,000 flight hours.
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