BAE Systems has announced that a £165 million contract to deliver further enhancements to the Eurofighter Typhoon has been signed at IDEX 2015, Abu Dhabi.
Under what is known as the ‘Phase 3 Enhancements Package’ (P3E), the contract will see the jet receive upgrades including improvements to the maintenance and mission systems and the integration of the MBDA Brimstone 2 precision missile.
The contract represents an order value of £72m to BAE Systems for the integration of the MBDA Brimstone 2 weapon.
This announcement follows a successful feasibility study and a trial installation commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defence and carried out by BAE Systems in 2014.
The contract helps sustain more than 200 highly skilled engineering jobs in Lancashire where the upgrade work will take place.
Martin Taylor, combat air managing director for BAE Systems, said: “By any measure, the number of capability enhancements put in place for Typhoon in the past 12 months has been phenomenal, with Meteor, Storm Shadow, Captor E-scan radar, and now Brimstone.
“P3E represents another exciting chapter in the development journey for Typhoon.”
This latest upgrade, with the integration of the Brimstone 2, opens up the air-to-surface capability of the aircraft even further to cope with a wide variety of targets, including fast moving vehicles.
Typhoon is already regarded as a world-leading combat aircraft. Recent improvements in capability deliver the latest technologies to keep its operators ahead in a constantly changing global environment.
