The Last F-2000 Typhoon of the Italian Air Force Has Been Delivered By Leonardo.
On Oct. 23, 2020, the last Eurofighter Typhoon for the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) was officially handed over during a ceremony held at Leonardo plant in Turin Caselle, in northwestern Italy. The ceremony was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Gen. Alberto Rosso, the CEO of Leonardo, Alessandro Profumo and the Aircraft Division Managing Director, Marco Zoff.
The final F-2000A, MM7356, IS082, is destined to the 132° Gruppo (Squadron) of the 51° Stormo (Wing) based at Istrana, the last Italian Air Force unit to receive the Euro-canard jet.
Italy has eventually received 21 Typhoons under Tranche 3A for a total of 95 jets (some sources say 96 – based on the initial plan), including 27x Tranche 1 and 47x Tranche 2 airframes).
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“The delivery of the last aircraft, which completes the Eurofighter fleet, is the main asset of a complex and diversified national and NATO air defence system, is a major programme milestone,” Italian Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Alberto Rosso said at the hand-over ceremony of the aircraft. “The aircraft has proven to be a reliable, flexible, and versatile asset, and is ready to face new technological challenges to continue to guarantee the highest level of safety across the Italian skies and protection of national interest. This is thanks to a wide range of operational capabilities which complement air defence duties such as Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) and attack (swing role). Today’s aircraft capabilities are the result of a long-term close and effective cooperation between the national defence industry and the Italian Air Force; a synergy that, further supports and empowers the country system, and allows us effectively to carry out our daily mission, the protection of people.”
The Caselle plant is now producing the 28 Kuwait Air Force’s Eurofighters, that are going to be the most advanced ones: Tranche 3 planes equipped with the new AESA radar.
The Tranche 3A standard embodies a number of changes that effectively enhance the aircraft’s performance and which allow for further upgrades making it more attractive to current and potential export customers. Even if there are little differences from an aesthetic point of view, the aircraft has a number of small panels on the fuselage that are there to accomodate the fitting of CFT (Conformal Fuel Tanks). A new internal structure in the nose secion was designed to accomodate wirings, power, cooling and electronics for the new E-Scan radar. Tranche 3A also features Hi-speed Data Networking capabilities, Fibre optics weapons bus and more computing power.
