Military Aviation Repair and Maintenance Sector Report 2010
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Typhoon Fatigue Life Extension
The UK has begun investigating the feasibility of extending the Eurofighter Typhoon’s fatigue life beyond its nominal 6,000 flying hour limit. The Typhoon’s current planned airframe life is 33 percent lower than that of the RAF’s upgraded Panavia Tornado GR4, which is capable of flying 8,000h. According to MoD figures, the RAF had reached nearly 25,000 flying hours with its Typhoons by the end of 2008, compared with 10,000 or fewer for each of the other three Eurofighter nations. The UK had ordered fewer than 35,000 lines of spares as of February 2009, against just over 50,000 for Germany, almost 45,000 for Italy and around 37,000 for Spain.
The UK has begun investigating the feasibility of extending the Eurofighter Typhoon’s fatigue life beyond its nominal 6,000 flying hour limit. The Typhoon’s current planned airframe life is 33 percent lower than that of the RAF’s upgraded Panavia Tornado GR4, which is capable of flying 8,000h. According to MoD figures, the RAF had reached nearly 25,000 flying hours with its Typhoons by the end of 2008, compared with 10,000 or fewer for each of the other three Eurofighter nations. The UK had ordered fewer than 35,000 lines of spares as of February 2009, against just over 50,000 for Germany, almost 45,000 for Italy and around 37,000 for Spain.
