Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is Europe's four-nation fighter, developed under the 1986 consortium agreement between the predecessors of Airbus Defence and Space, BAE Systems and Leonardo, with assembly lines in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. It first flew on March 27, 1994, entered service in 2003, and passed 600 deliveries in October 2025 against more than 760 orders.
Two signatures in October 2025 turned the program's production tail into a decade of work: Germany's order for 20 Tranche 5 aircraft and Turkey's for 20 as the tenth customer nation, with used jets from Qatar and Oman under discussion to bridge Turkish deliveries. New-build Tranche 4 and 5 aircraft carry the ECRS Mk1 active electronically scanned array radar, the upgrade path intended to keep the type current into the 2040s.
Typhoon at a glance
The fleet is defined by production tranches, from the early air-defense Tranche 1 to today's Tranche 4 and 5 with the new ECRS radar family.
Variant comparison
| Specification | Tranche 1 | Tranche 2-3 | Tranche 4-5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Early air-defense standard | Full multirole standard | New-build with ECRS AESA radar |
| Primary operator | Partner nations, Austria | All partner and export fleets | Germany, Spain, Italy, Turkey |
| Status | Being retired or upgraded | In service; the bulk of the fleet | In production; latest orders from 2025 |
Quadriga-standard Tranche 4 and 5 jets carry the ECRS Mk1 AESA radar and keep all four partner assembly lines busy, with the October 2025 German and Turkish orders extending production well into the 2030s.
Full specifications
Latest Typhoon coverage from AeroTime
Operators
Frequently asked questions
The Eurofighter consortium: Airbus Defence and Space with 46%, BAE Systems with 33% and Leonardo with 21%, with final assembly in Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain.
More than 760 across ten nations, with over 600 delivered as of late 2025.
Yes. Turkey signed for 20 new Typhoons in October 2025, becoming the tenth customer, with additional used jets from Qatar and Oman under discussion.