Germany has announced plans to buy 20 more Eurofighters.
Speaking at the ILA Berlin 2024 exhibition on 5 June, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the gathered audience, “I am strongly in favour of maintaining and expanding production capacities. That is why we will order 20 more Eurofighters in this legislative period in addition to the 38 aircraft that are currently still in the pipeline.
“We are also committed to further prospects for the Eurofighter in terms of exports,” Scholz added. “I already had the opportunity to visit the Eurofighter production facility in Manching in January. We will ensure continuous capacity utilisation there.”
The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) currently operates a Eurofighter fleet of 138 aircraft, according to the Bundeswehr website. Originally 33 of these were Tranche 1 aircraft delivered from 2003 and configured purely for air defence, while the rest are Tranche 2 and Tranche 3A aircraft with multi-role capabilities.
In November 2020, under Project Quadriga, Berlin ordered 38 Tranche 4 Eurofighters (30 singe-seaters and eight two-seaters), which feature ground attack capabilities, to replace its Tranche 1 Eurofighters.
The latest order for 38 Eurofighters will thus build the fleet once the Quadriga aircraft have replaced the Tranche 1 fleet.
Although Germany announced in December 2022 that it will buy 35 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the United States, the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter fleet will need to remain in service until the Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS/SCAF) comes into service around 2045.
