Paris Air Show 2023: Airbus looks to close out follow-on Eurofighter o…

A Spanish Eurofighter was displayed at the Paris Air Show 2023. Along with Germany, the country has a requirement for a follow-on buy of aircraft that Airbus hopes to shortly close out as the lead design authority for the fighter in both countries. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Airbus is confident of securing follow-on orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft with partner countries Germany and Spain.

Speaking at the Paris Air Show 2023 on 20 June, executive vice-president of Airbus Military Air Systems Jean-Brice Dumont said that the Halcon II requirement for Spain and the Tornado replacement requirement for Germany should see additional Tranche 4/5 Eurofighters contracted in the short to medium term.

“The journey for the Eurofighter continues. There is an opportunity for a follow-on Halcon II buy in Spain with the [Long-Term Evolution] LTE enhancements [that would feature in this deal] being an export enabler for the Eurofighter,” Dumont said. “For Germany, there are ongoing discussions on two fronts – one is for an initial batch of [electronic warfare] EW-enabled Eurofighters [for which Saab and Helsing were recently contracted to provide the payload] and the other is for the next evolution of the Eurofighter, which will be the Tranche 5 LTE. On the [outstanding Tornado replacement jets for Germany] we are currently defining ‘what and when'.”