BAE Systems has been awarded a contract valued at approximately £135m, to drive forward the next phase of capability enhancements of combat air or Typhoon; one of the world’s most advanced combat aircraft. The investment will improve weapons capability, increasing the variety of precision guided munitions, and further enhance Typhoon’s defensive systems and datalinks, improving high-speed secure sharing of data.

The contract forms part of an ongoing commitment by the Eurofighter consortium and UK, Spain, Italy and Germany to continue to develop Typhoon’s technology-led capability, increase interoperability with coalition forces and mature technologies for the nations’ future combat air systems.

Current development work on Typhoon includes the design and exploitation of new large touchscreen cockpit displays, funded by BAE Systems, enabling pilots to assess and respond to increasing volumes of data from the aircraft’s sensors and datalinks. The Typhoon programme directly employs more than 5,000 at BAE Systems, supporting a further 10,000 jobs across the UK economy.

“This contract marks another significant milestone in the continued development of Typhoon’s capability as we apply our breadth of expertise to further advance its combat air capability, ensuring it has the technologies required for the future battlespace,” said Richard Hamilton, Typhoon Programme Director, Europe – BAE Systems Air.

“The contract will sustain 100 highly-skilled engineering roles in the North West and is just one example of a number of technology-led innovations being developed on Typhoon, which will help to keep the UK skill base at the forefront of the global combat air sector and sustainable skills required to deliver the next generation future combat air system.”

The Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced multi-role combat aircraft in operation, supporting European security and defence objectives and highly successful in the export market. It will remain in operation with nations well into the middle of the century.

The contract was awarded to BAE Systems by Eurofighter, the consortium which represents the core nations’ industrial partners comprising Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.

Eurofighter Typhoon underpins the UK’s strategically important international relationships and is in operational service with seven nations – Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Austria, Oman and Saudi Arabia – with production orders underway for Germany, Kuwait and Qatar.