PROGRAMME NEWS & FEATURES EUROFIGHTER NOVEMBER 2018 SPECIAL EDITION INTERNATIONAL FIGHTER CONFERENCE 2018 13-15 November, 2018, Berlin, Germany EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE OPERATION SHADER 2018 · EUROFIGHTER WORLD EDITORIAL 2018 · EUROFIGHTER WORLD 3 CONTENTS INTERNATIONAL FIGHTER CONFERENCE 2018 SPECIAL EDITION PROGRAMME NEWS & FEATURES WELCOME NOVEMBER 2018 Cover: A fully armed Typhoon GR4 of the 3 WELCOME Welcome to this special International Fighter Conference So what about the next 500,000 miles? Well that future RAF prepares for take off on Operation Welcome from Volker Paltzo, 2018 edition of Eurofighter World. We’re going into the looks exciting, with the Eurofighter Typhoon set to re- Shader, the Counter-Daesh mission, CEO of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH. conference having just passed the 500,000 flying hours ceive a new electronically-scanned array radar and an from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. © UK MoD Crown Copyright 2017 milestone. enhanced human machine interface. Already the best in 4 Retaining Combat Edge their class, the EJ200 engines, will also be further devel- RUSI’s Justin Bronk gives an exclusive A great deal has been achieved since Eurofighter oped, ensuring that Eurofighter Typhoon can maintain its insight into how he believes the West can Typhoon entered into service. We now have a fleet of combat edge. Eurofi ghter World is published by Eurofi ghter Jagdfl ugzeug GmbH maintain its combat edge in the future almost 500 aircraft protecting PR & Communications threat environment. Europe’s borders, with the po- In this edition of the magazine Am Söldnermoos 17, 85399 Hallbergmoos tential for this number to grow we take an in-depth look at the Tel: +49 (0) 811-80 1587 communications@eurofi ghter.com substantially in the next dec- future battle space. Justin Bronk 8 The Perfect Option for Poland ades. from RUSI talks about the future Editorial Team Tony Garner As the campaign for a new fighter for threats, while Bruno Fichefeux Martina Schmidmeir Poland takes shape, we talk to the team And, during this period, the from Airbus Defence & Space Adam Morrison making the case for Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft has transformed its ca- outlines the potential technolo- Contributors on how they think they’ll be successful. pability into a true swing-role gies that could come into play in Airbus Defence and Space combat aircraft, with significant the development of a future Eu- BAE Systems LEONARDO combat operational experience ropean combat air system. Our Viva PR under its belt from its first com- own Head of Marketing, Raffael Photography 10 The Road to FCAS EDITORIAL bat role over the skies of Libya in Klaschka, discusses how Eu- Eurofi ghter Jagdfl ugzeug GmbH The man heading the Airbus Defence & 2011 through to today’s opera- rofighter fits into this complex Eurofi ghter Partner Companies Space FCAS programme explains the tions over Syria and Iraq. jigsaw. Geoff rey Lee, Planefocus Limited, UK Jamie Hunter thinking behind its concepts and plans Giovanni Colla for the future battlespace. In fact, there’s a fascinating arti- What’s clear from all these dif- cle in this magazine on how Eu- ferent contributors is the impor- Design & Production rofighter Typhoons are taking the tant role Eurofighter will play in images.art.design. Werbeagentur GmbH 16 Inside Operation Shader www.iad-design.de fight to the terrorist group Daesh the decades ahead. We take a rare look inside RAF Akrotiri in with daily operations conducted Printed by Cyprus, where Eurofighter Typhoons have by the RAF from RAF Akrotiri in We’ll also take an in-depth look ESTA Druck GmbH www.esta-druck.de been playing a pivotal role in the fight Cyprus. Today Eurofighter is also at the ground-breaking new against terrorist group Daesh. the backbone of NATO’s European air defence and will Spear3 weapon and look at the campaign for a new continue to be developed to defend against all future fighter for Poland. threats for decades to come. Eurofi ghter World on the Internet 20 Eurofighter in the Future Battlespace I hope you enjoy the read. www.eurofi ghter.com Follow us on: With rapid technological developments When you reach a milestone like this it’s worth pausing shaping the thinking about the future of for a moment to reflect on just what an important contri- air power, we look at how Eurofighter will bution Eurofighter makes. It represents the biggest and shape up through the eyes of a former most successful defence collaboration programme ever Eurofighter Typhoon pilot. undertaken in Europe. It has provided security, industrial If you would like to request additional copies of and economic cooperation and sustainment on a previ- Eurofi ghter World, please contact the ously unseen scale. And it’s the model for future defence Volker Paltzo PR & Communications Department: communications@eurofi ghter.com 24 Packing an Almighty Punch and industrial collaboration in Europe. CEO The ground-breaking new weapon SPEAR3 Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH November 2018 is being hailed as a breakthrough capability. Discover why and exactly what it will bring to Eurofighter Typhoon. 4 2018 · EUROFIGHTER WORLD INTERVIEW INTERVIEW 2018 · EUROFIGHTER WORLD 5 What do you see as the main emerging Your research paper says that while You talk about the decline of the threats for Western governments? Western air forces have got used to technical edge that Western forces very low attrition rates in recent have long enjoyed; can you explain how There has been a proliferation of high-end decades, there’s significant potential that manifests itself? threat systems, which previously would for this situation to be reversed. have been the preserve of peer states. It’s basically a combination of Russian RETAINING COMBAT EDGE There’s been an increasing trend towards When you look at the systems which make defence spending, particularly on ground the spread of triple-digit Surface-to Air-Mis- up so-called anti-access area denial or based air defences after a 15-20 year gap, sile (SAM) systems, high end electronic A2AD bubbles, they’re sophisticated and with the emergence of China as a potential warfare equipment and radars to countries long-ranged enough that Western forces will peer competitor in technological terms. It’s like Iran, and plenty of others. These states take losses in degrading those capabilities. a trend that is going to accelerate. are buying equipment which presents a A2AD tends to be something which can im- It’s not necessarily that the West has threat level which we’d have considered as pose attrition on the attacking force, delay become worse at designing or procuring characterising high intensity warfighting in it and increase the timescales and political things, rather that for a while we were the In this edition of Eurofighter World we talk to the author of a new report previous decades. appetite required to push on. The flip side undisputed masters of the game because Clearly the ground-based threats are is that there are plenty of techniques that other people weren’t really trying to catch on the future threat environment facing the West and some possible increasing. Russia in particular is continuing to you could deploy to start suppressing those up. pursue improvements in missile performance defences and in the long term A2AD tactics So in a sense it’s the erosion of a mas- solutions. Justin Bronk is Research Fellow for Airpower with for both SAMs and in the air-to-air domain. It are unlikely to actually stop a determined sive technological and operational advan- is also focusing on improving and broadening force. tage lead, in terms of the way we did things the Military Sciences programme at the highly respected the range of diff erent detection and tracking Politicians tend to overestimate the and how we linked them up. But that was technologies that cue in those weapons. It’s capabilities of high end air defences and fairly artificial because it was the result of defence think tank RUSI (Royal United Services Institute). going to get harder and harder to remain see them as an impregnable shield. They’re some very specific geostrategic circum- unseen, and the kinematic threats that are not. They only become an impregnable stances in a set period of time. then cued in when you are seen will continue shield if you’re not politically willing to risk We’re simply moving back to the natural to improve in range and agility. losses. status quo — which is a constant game So there’s an issue around how you of evolution between attack and defence Justin Bronk square it with political risk. For a lot of na- in ground and air threats, and weapons Research Fellow, Airpower and tions, the serious prospect of taking losses systems. The 1990s and the 2000s were a Technology, RUSI will result in a greatly reduced political will- bit of an aberration and Western air forces ingness to use force. Of course, if we find were able to reign unchallenged. Now we’re ourselves in a high intensity conflict against having to relearn old lessons. a peer then that’s a different ball game, we But the problem is that the mechanisms have no choice but to engage. Then it’s a by which we develop, procure, design, pay question of how credible and sustainable for and value air power at a political and your force is. industrial level have unavoidably changed within those 20 years. Procurement timescales and attitudes to attrition have been conditioned by those two decades. They’re better suited to a time when the competition was from allies for exports, rather than a serious set of kinetic threats. Frankly, we need a much more rap- id pace of iterative development, as well as a more serious look at forces in the round.