A Sample Feature From Aviation News

Luftwaffe today
Change and consolidation

Above: Armed with one of the standard Luftwaffe air superiority options comprising two IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missiles, a 27mm Mauser cannon in the starboard wing root, and a 1,000lit centreline fuel tank, one of the Tranche 1 Eurofighters of JG 73 Steinhoff banks away to return to its base at Laage. (All photos Eurofighter/Geoff Lee, except where stated)

One of Nato’s largest air arms, the German Luftwaffe has been undergoing changes in its structure and equipment and in its strategic approach within the Alliance. With the Eurofighter now sharing QRA with the diminishing Phantom force, Barry Wheeler reviews the air force inventory as the Service grapples with ever-tighter defence budgets while responding to an increasing number of out-of-area commitments.

OF THE main air bases used by the Luftwaffe, Neuberg/Donau in southern Germany has the shortest runway at 8,000ft (2,440m), but it is this airfield, north-west of Munich, that has played host to Germany’s jet fighters for more than 60 years. From the country’s first generation Messerschmitt Me 262s, through post-war North American F-86Ks, Lockheed F-104Gs and McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantoms, the base is now home to the latest Eurofighter Typhoon, flown by Jagdgeschwader JG 74.

For Germany, as one of the founding members of the Alliance, Eurofighter is the key to the Luftwaffe’s future operations for at least the next 30 years and if all 180 (147 single-seaters and 33 two-seaters) currently on order are delivered, six Wings will form the backbone of the force. These will be JG 73 ‘Steinhoff’, 74, and 71 ‘Richthofen’ (in 2011), together with the fighter-bomber Wings JagdbomberGeschwader JaboG 31 ‘Boelcke’ at Norvenich in 2009, and JaboG 33 at Buchel in 2013.

With all 148 Tranche 1 Eurofighters now built and in service across the four participating nations (plus Austria as the first export customer), production is now underway on the Tranche 2 contract for 236 aircraft. Type acceptance for the new model was gained on September 12, 2008. For JG 74 and its two component squadrons, the arrival of its first Eurofighter on July 25, 2006, meant a gradual withdrawal of its two squadrons of Phantoms, the final example making its last flight with the Wing on June 12, 2008. Its replacement, the first European fighter design based at Neuberg since the Second World War, has been racking up the flying hours since its arrival and the figure by the end of 2008 stood at more than 2,000, some 230hr above that planned.

Below: A ground crewman of JG 74 removes the protective tail cover from an IRIS-T thrust-vectoring AAM. The nose contains a BGT-designed indium-antimonide imaging infra-red sensor which gives an off-boresight capability compatible with the weapon’s extreme agility.

Below: Festooned with red warning tags, one of JG 74’s two-seaters sits precisely parked in the new purpose-built maintenance hall at Neuberg. The wing will eventually have a complement of five two-seaters and 30 single-seat Eurofighters. (Photo, Av News)

Eurofighter deliveries to the Luftwaffe began in April 2004 when the first of 21 single and 12 two-seaters arrived with JG 73 at Laage to take on the Wing’s conversion role for the German Air Force. Fighter Wing 74 became the second unit to receive the type and at a briefing in October 2008, Oberstleutenant Andreas Pfeiffer, commander of JG 74, said that 16 of an eventual 63 pilots had now transitioned on to the ten Eurofighters on strength. They would have had 11, but the aircraft originally allocated to them had been diverted to meet the needs of the Austrian Air Force. The Wing will have received a further two by December towards an initial 24 aircraft, increasing to a full strength of 35 within the next three years. To accommodate the new fighter, the air force has spent more than ?100m on modernising Neuburg. Six docks have been installed in a smart, new maintenance hangar, a Wing and ops centre have been built together with a simulator building, and a bright, new area of concrete points to where three QRA (Quick-Reaction Alert) shelters have been established. With personnel accommodation, the area at Neuberg has not surprisingly taken on the unofficial name, Eurofighter Town.

Above: Scramble! Luftwaffe pilots with JG 74 are committed to QRA in defence of the southern region of Germany. The Quick Reaction Alert is 24hr, emphasised by the night shot of an armed two-seater in its shelter.

Transitioning pilots from existing fighter aircraft has involved more time in the simulator than earlier jets like the F-4, but such is the responsive handling on this computer-powered, unstable twin-turbofan design that after four or five flights in the two-seater over a two-week period, a pilot is well able to fly solo. A key feature in mastering the aircraft is the DVI or Direct Voice Input, which the pilot can use to enter spoken commands into the system. To give warnings of technical or flight problems, the aircraft has an alert system using a woman’s voice which gains the required attention from the generally male-dominated crews. Gaining handling experience through all flight regimes, he will extend the flying to interception and air-combat manoeuvring with air-to-air gun firing on the ranges. Aerial refuelling is undertaken from the Luftwaffe’s latest hose and drogue-equipped Airbus A310 MRTT. The four tankers currently in use have taken the place of the USAF KC-135s used previously, a change much appreciated by the air force planners as well as by the pilots of both the Tornados and the Eurofighters.

Above: Eurofighter production is a huge operation. These views, taken at EADS’ Manching site in Germany, illustrate the complexities of building on an international scale. Top to bottom, a rear fuselage section is pulled out of a truck just arrived from Alenia in Italy; wiring looms are installed in fuselage centre-sections before the completed units are transferred to final assembly. (Photos, Av News)

Above: Over the next few months, the Air Force is expecting to receive the first four of 42 Eurocopter NH90 TTH helicopters. These will provide a major advance on the old Bell Huey and deploy on casualty evacuation, Combat SAR and as personnel and cargo transport. (Photo, Eurocopter)

Below: Luftwaffe-operated, ground-based air defence has been vested in Hawk SAMs and Raytheon Patriots, but a new system is considered necessary to combat the threat posed by ballistic and cruise missiles. The result is MEADS, a truck-mounted mobile weapon under development by EADS.

For the rest of this article please see the March 2009 issue.