German aviation has temporarily suspended the delivery of the Eurofighters Typhoon following the discovery of procedural "non-conformities" in the connection between the vertical stabilizers and the body of the aircraft. In a communication to the German Bundestag, the Ministry of Defense found "irregularities in the removal of burrs, carried out not according to standard procedures". The Eurofighter consortium confirmed the problem.
In the consortium note, formed by Airbus Defense and Space, BAE Systems and Finmeccanica, there is talk of "non-conformity of the manufacturing during the assembly of the fin to the rear fuselage of the aircraft". Responsible for the production of the parties involved is BAE Systems.
The problem does not concern flight safety - they added from the consortium - there will be no operational limitations or reductions in the life of the cell.
The German Ministry of Defense does not think so in a note that "in-flight security, if not in the short term, could be affected in the long term". According to the Ministry of Defense, all German Eurofighters delivered, from the first tranche to the current 3A, would suffer from these non-conformities in the final assembly.
The British Ministry of Defense has already confirmed that it will continue to accept deliveries and operate with the aircraft normally. Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are the main partners of the program Typhoon. Austria and Saudi Arabia have EFA in line. Oman has already ordered the aircraft while Kuwait recently announced its intention to buy 24 Typhoon, but has not yet formalized the contract. Compared to 250 Typhoon initially planned for both Great Britain and Germany, London and Berlin have reduced the order to 150 hunting to country. This could, according to the consortium, determine the closure of the EFA 2000 line for the 2018.
To date, 444's ordered 599 Typhoons have been delivered.
(photo: Luftwaffe)
