Luftwaffe submits Eurofighter EK study ahead of jammer selection by end of year

The Eurofighter EK will be developed in a stepped approach, with the AARGM missile being integrated for the SEAD/DEAD mission, ahead of a jammer pod for an airborne electronic attack mission. (Janes/Gareth Jenings)

The Luftwaffe has submitted to its service chief a market study geared at informing the electronic attack payload for its Eurofighter Elektronischer Kampf (EK) aircraft.

Andreas Hammer, the head of Combat Aircraft Systems at Airbus, told Janes and other defence media on 12 December that the report had been submitted to Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz on the same day. This was ahead of review by the BAAINBw German procurement agency, and the selection of an airborne electronic attack (AEA) jammer payload by the end of 2022.

“The Chancellor made his [Eurofighter EK selection] speech in March 2022, and in the summer [third quarter], a market study was launched to see what [jammer payload] might [be] available at a high-technical readiness level on the open market,” Hammer said during the annual Airbus Trade Media Briefing at its Madrid facility in Spain.

Formerly referred to as the Eurofighter Electronic Combat Role (ECR), the Eurofighter EK is billed as being the escort jammer component of a system-of-systems designed to provide a comprehensive AEA capability, with the other elements of the system being a stand-off jammer aircraft and stand-in jammer effectors. In March, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said that the Luftwaffe would receive 15 of these aircraft to partially satisfy its Tornado replacement requirement.