Scott Nicholas
BAE Systems has hosted a series of flight trials on a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft equipped with an MBDA air-to-surface weapon as part of a program to transition the multirole fighter platform to the U.K.’s air force by the end of next year.
The Typhoon flight tests were conducted at BAE’s facility in Lancashire, England, under phase 3 enhancement effort of Project Centurion, the company said Monday.
The tests employed a Combined Testing Team approach with pilots of the U.K. air force’s 41(R) Squadron in efforts to gather air data on the Brimstone weapon, expand the Typhoon’s carriage envelope and measure environmental impact of the aircraft.
“This series of flight trials has included Aero Data Gathering flights to test how the addition of the Brimstone weapon and other assets interacts with the aircraft’s flight control system software,” said Steve Formoso, chief test pilot for BAE’s military air and information business.
“The detailed results of these trials will now be analysed and further testing carried out ahead of firing trials.”
The Typhoon aircraft has previously flown with weapons systems such as the AMRAAM, ASRAAM, Paveway IV laser guided/GPS bombs and two launchers that contained Brimstone missiles.
