Germany buys new Tranche 4 EF2000s

In January 2019, the German government already announced that they excluded the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II from its Tornado replacement programme. In March 2020, it was reported that Germany was nearing the decision to buy up to 90 Eurofighter Typhoons.

On 5 November 2020, an order for 38 new (Tranche 4) Eurofighter Typhoons was confirmed. Total value of this order is 5,4 billion euros. The new Typhoons will not be added to the current fleet, but they will replace the oldest Tranche 1 aircraft.

The Quadriga contract was officially signed on 11 November 2020. The renewed order from Germany secures production until 2030 and comes at a strategically important time for the programme

The Tranche 4 Typhoon is a further developed version of the Tranche 1 Block 5 version, that was delivered to the Luftwaffe (GAF, German Air Force) from 2003 and later followed by EF2000 Tranche 2 aircraft. The new Typhoons will have the following additional features: Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFT), AESA radar and an improved self-protection system

This order for 38 aircraft is reported to be the first of many. The German Air Force has additional plans to procure 60 plus additional Typhoons, 30 F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets and 15 EA-18G Growlers, but these plans still needs approval by the German parliament.

The German Air Force has 141 operational Typhoons in her inventory, divided over four Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader (TLG, Wing): TLG31 at Nörvenich, TLG71 at Wittmund, TLG73 at Laage and TLG74 at Neuburg. A small number of Typhoons are in use as instructional airframe or flight test aircraft at different locations in Germany.

Photo: Dietmar Fenners (Scramble Magazine Archive)