Ceremony Attended By German Minister Of Defense

The German Air Force has taken delivery of the 400th Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft during special ceremony at Cassidian’s Military Air Systems Center in Manching, Southern Germany.

In the past 10 years the global Eurofighter Typhoon fleet has demonstrated its high operational effectiveness in international missions and trainings and accumulated more than 210,000 flying hours. Several developments such as the Phase 1 Enhancement, the integration of the METEOR air-to-air missile, the new electronic radar (E-Scan) and additional weaponry increase the capabilities of the Eurofighter Typhoon and secure the future of this modern combat aircraft in the next decades.

The delivery of the very first Eurofighter Typhoon to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom took place end of 2003. The 100th Eurofighter was delivered also to the Royal Air Force in September 2006. The 200th aircraft was handed over in November 2009 to the German Air Force. The 300th aircraft was delivered to the Spanish Air Force in November 2011.

At the ceremony, the State Secretary of the German Ministry of Defense, Christian Schmidt, received the aircraft with the markings ‘31+06’. The event was witnessed by several high ranking representatives from politics and industry including: the Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology, Ilse Aigner; the Chief Executive Officer of Cassidian, Bernhard Gerwert, and representatives from the British, Spanish and Italian Eurofighter Partner companies.

“The delivery of the 400th Eurofighter Typhoon marks a historic milestone in Europe’s largest defense program," said Alberto Gutierrez, Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH. "Now we must focus much more strongly on export campaigns in order to win new contracts and new customers for this outstanding aircraft. Right now, especially in these difficult times in the defense industry, it is more important than ever that we stand up and be counted. That is what today is all about.”

(Image provided by Eurofighter)

FMI: www.eurofighter.com