ILA 2022: Eurofighter presses Berlin for Tranche 5 buy

With the Luftwaffe showcasing its Eurofighter at ILA 2022, Airbus will be using the event to press the German government to commit to a Tranche 5 buy as part of its wider Tornado replacement plan. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Eurofighter has pressed the German government to commit to its previously announced plan to buy Eurofighter Tranche 5 combat aircraft.

With stakeholder Airbus having earlier raised the issue of an outstanding Eurofighter buy in the immediate aftermath of Berlin‘s Tornado replacement announcement in March, Eurofighter chief operating officer (COO) Programmes, Wolfgang Gammel reiterated the call ahead of the ILA Berlin Air Show.

“Another big opportunity for us this year is the decision by the German government over the German Air Force Tornado replacement,” Gammel said. “We believe Eurofighter can deliver the required capabilities in the given timescale and we are looking forward for this decision.”

Gammel's comments published in Eurofighter's Eurofighter World Magazine in-house publication in May echoed those made some weeks earlier by the CEO of Airbus Defence and Space (DS), Michael Schoellhorn, in which he noted, “The majority of Tornados are used in the conventional fighter-bomber role, and should also be replaced by Eurofighter [Tranche 5]. We need that decision now, too. That‘s key as Eurofighter is the technological bridge towards [the Future Combat Air System] FCAS to be on [the same] level with our future partners [France and Spain].”

The German government announced in March that it would acquire up to 35 F-35As to satisfy the Luftwaffe's nuclear mission element of the Tornado replacement requirement, and 15 Eurofighter Electronic Combat Role (ECR) aircraft for the separate but related Luftgestützte Wirkung im Elektromagnetischen Spektrum (luWES) electronic attack (EA) requirement for NATO.