Indonesia Air Show '96 lures Eurofighter 2000

JAKARTA (JP): Four industrial giants have cooperated to build Eurofighter 2000, on show at Indonesia Air Show '96.

The aircraft, a collaborative effort by Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain, is a replacement for the air-defense systems presently used. The current systems will be outdated, both technically and militarily, by the turn of the millennium.

The first prototype of Eurofighter 2000 took off from the Daimler-Benz Aerospace flight testing center in Manching, Germany on March 27, 1994. On April 6, 1994, the second of seven prototypes followed suit in Warton/Lancashire, Great Britain, with a 45-minute maiden flight. Equipped with EJ200 production engines, the third prototype started flight testing in Italy on June 4, 1995. The other four prototypes will start flight testing during 1996.

The aircraft's highly maneuverable design makes it impossible to fly by conventional means. For safety reasons, it has been equipped with a fourfold redundant digital, computer-assisted flight control system.

The Eurofighter 2000 is nearly 16 meters long and has a wing span of 11 meters. Maximum takeoff weight is 21 tons. Takeoff and landing require only 70 meters of runway. It can reach twice the speed of sound thanks to the aircraft's Eurojet EJ200 engines.

The Eurofighter 2000 is part of a display brought here by Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG, the largest German exhibitor at the air show. (lem)