New radar Typhoon flies in

Work is underway on modifications and upgrades to a Typhoon development aircraft, named IPA5, as part of a programme to integrate an electronically-scanning radar, the E-scan radar.

The new radar is the latest must-have for warplanes and makes the aircraft a much more saleable commodity putting it at the leading edge of weapons systems.

A team at BAE Systems’ base in Warton is working on the programme alongside the Eurofighter and Euroradar consortiums, which are the businesses from across Europe behind the Typhoon jet.

The aircraft has moved to the Final Assembly Hangar at Warton, which marks the end of the re-build phase of IPA5 which got under way in August 2012 and signals preparations for flight test of the aircraft.

IPA5 will now undergo a series of tests by the team, including dedicated fuel and hydraulic system testing, with the flight operations team at Warton.

Following these activities, the first flight of the modified aircraft is expected to take place.

Typhoon is already regarded as one of the world’s leading ‘swing role’ combat aircraft, meaning it can operate air-to-air and air-to-ground combat without needing to land and re-configure its weapons.

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