The RAF is set to receive a third batch of Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft after Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s announcement today, Thursday 14 May 2009, that the UK will move ahead with its international partners with the final stages of procuring the multi-role combat aircraft.

The initial production aircraft will be deployed primarily as air-superiority fighters, but will quickly be equipped with a potent precision ground-attack capability.

The MOD will now initial the ministerial agreement which the other partner nations (Germany, Italy and Spain) signed on 2 April 2009, and which contains a statement of principles, including the need to achieve significant through-life savings.

The contract for the third tranche of Typhoon aircraft will be signed once there is a satisfactory conclusion to negotiations, and each partner nation’s approving authority has accepted the terms of agreement.

At peak production, the Typhoon programme will help sustain 5,000 jobs at BAE Systems, 4,000 throughout Rolls-Royce and its supply chain, and up to 16,000 in total in the UK aerospace industry.