• The new 5-year contracts will see Leonardo directly involved in the maintenance of German and Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon avionics 
• Leonardo already provides availability-based support for Italian Typhoons and also recently agreed to provide support for UK Typhoon avionics for the next 10 years
• Leonardo provides more than 60 percent of the avionics for the Typhoon, leading the consortia that provide the jet’s radar, defensive aids suite and IRST

Leonardo has signed contracts worth more than 100 million Euros with Airbus to provide avionics maintenance for both German and Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon fleets. These contracts will cover all repairs estimated to arise in the next 5 years. The service covers all equipment, directly or indirectly, where Leonardo is the design authority. This includes the majority of the Typhoon’s avionic suite including the radar, IRST sensor and defensive aids suite. The five year contracts will see Leonardo supporting the Spanish Ejército del Aire and German Luftwaffe Typhoon jets in partnership with Airbus and Eurofighter.

The contracts with Germany and Spain follow the establishment of arrangements tailored to Typhoon partner nations Italy and the UK. The Italian Air Force was the first Eurofighter Typhoon user to procure an availability-based maintenance service arrangement in 2008, developing the Avionic Maintenance Centre (CMA) model with Leonardo. CMA sees support provided at the Air Force’s Typhoon base of operations, and provides a guaranteed turnaround time for Typhoon maintenance. The Italian Air Force recently demonstrated their satisfaction by renewing the contract. In 2016, Leonardo joined BAE Systems under the TyTAN (Typhoon Total Availability Enterprise) initiative, with the two companies agreeing to support UK Typhoons for the next 10 years. As well as keeping the fleets at a high state of readiness, these two long-term availability-based contracts are designed to generate cost savings for the partner nations, significant portions of which are expected to be reinvested in programmes aimed at further developing the aircraft’s capabilities.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is in-service with six customers and has been ordered by two more, most recently when Leonardo received an order for 28 aircraft from Kuwait in April 2016. Leonardo is responsible for around 36% of the Typhoon’s programme value, which includes parts of the aircraft’s structure, avionics and on-board electronics. The company provides more than 60 percent of the avionics for the Typhoon and leads the consortia responsible for providing the aircraft’s radar and infrared search and track (IRST) sensors and its electronic warfare defensive aid suite.

Picture Marcel van Leeuwen