Germany has received the final Eurofighter combat aircraft under its current programme-of-record (PoR), the consortium confirmed to Jane’s on 18 December.
A pair of Luftwaffe Eurofighters seen on deployment to NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission in Estonia. Germany received the last of its currently contracted 143 Eurofighters on 17 December, although more orders are anticipated. (Jane’s/Gareth Jennings)
The final Tranche 3A aircraft, Luftwaffe serial 31.53, departed Airbus’ Manching production facility in southern Germany on 17 December. With this delivery, the Luftwaffe has received into service 143 Eurofighters since the first Tranche 1 aircraft was handed over in 2003.
With this milestone, Germany became the second partner nation after the United Kingdom to conclude its Eurofighter PoR. The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) received its final Tranche 3A aircraft from BAE Systems’ Warton site on 27 September, which brought to an end a production run of 160 aircraft for the RAF that began in 2003.
In the near-term the Manching facility near Munich will focus on delivering parts for assembly at the other national production facilities in Italy, Spain, and the UK. A Eurofighter representative noted to Jane’s that the line will remain busy through to Project Quadriga that will see the Luftwaffe replace 32 early Tranche 1 aircraft with up to 38 new build and active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar-equipped Eurofighters. A contract for this is expected from the German government shortly.
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