The Eurofighter with the serial number AS008, which was originally planned for Austria, is now being made airworthy again after eleven years as a training object.
In his farewell speech, the outgoing commander of airspace surveillance, Brigadier Rupert Stadlhofer, once again addressed the “castration” of the red-white-red Eurofighter jets by politicians in 2007. He lamented – once again – the “mutilation” and the gutting of important components such as radar warning receivers, the reduction to 15 units, including the subsequent accusation of fewer flying hours and the reversion to the earliest Tranche 1. Stadlhofer called on politicians to correct the mistakes made at the time.
Meanwhile, the eighth Eurofighter, originally intended for Austria, is now likely to fly again – but not with us. As a reminder: the first six aircraft were – in accordance with the contract (see table on the right) – Tranche 1 and remained the only airframes built just for us. Tranche 2 aircraft would have been planned from serial number AS007 onwards, but these went to the German Air Force, which in turn ceded the slots of three Tranche 1 aircraft built for them (GS = German Single, AS = Austrian Single) and six used and very early GS already flying in Laage to Austria with a so-called R2 retrofit. The 15 jets of the German Armed Forces therefore come from three different “sources” (see table below). However, both the German and the Austrian aircraft still bear the “swapped” AS and GS numbers – very small and gray at the base of the vertical stabilizer. This gives rise to a certain amount of sentimentality when – as recently reported by our colleague Karl Schwarz – there is once again a report about AS (similar to the line “AF must be Midway” in a well-known classic movie).
AS008 was a training cell at the Air Force Technical School in Kaufbeuren for eleven years, was transported by road to Manching and is now, according to a report in Flug Revue is now to be reintegrated into the operational fleet.
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