The first Eurofighter Typhoons destined to the Kuwait Air Force have been delivered. These stunning images show them during their delivery flight.
On Dec. 14, 2021, the first two out of a total of 28 Eurofighter Typhoons ordered by Kuwait were delivered to the Kuwait Air Force (KAF). On their ferry flight to the Gulf, the two aircraft, KT001 and KT002, sporting the provisional serials M.T.55243 and 55244 (that has replaced the Italian experimental serials CSX55243 and CSX55244 noted during the first flight on Oct. 15, 2021), were supported by the Italian Air Force which guaranteed the “Air to Air Refueling trail” through a complex operational activity, which involved the use of two KC-767A tankers, MM62228 and MM62229, of the 14° Stormo (Wing) from Pratica di Mare and two Eurofighters of the 4° Stormo, from Grosseto.
The AAR trail provided also an opportunity for the Italian photographers to take some nice images of the “package” during the flight from Leonardo’s Caselle plant near Turin, northwestern Italy, to Kuwait, that you can find in this post.
The contract for the 28 aircraft (that will operate alongside 28 Super Hornets – 22 F/A-18Es and 6 F/A-18Fs – as part of a two-type frontline) was inked in April 2016 after a first MoU had been signed in September 2015.
برعاية وحضور سعادة رئيس الأركان العامة للجيش و سعادة وكيل وزارة الدفاع بالندب و سعادة السفير الإيطالي لدى البلاد ، اقيم مساء اليوم حفل استقبال وصول الدفعة الأولى من طائرات اليوروفايتر تايفون إلى أرض الوطن.
المزيد : https://t.co/Z52REwS2fS pic.twitter.com/JmNLqOjREC
— KUWAIT ARMY – الجيش الكويتي (@KuwaitArmyGHQ) December 14, 2021
“This is an excellent operation for Italy, demonstrating the success of Italian products abroad and an important step towards consolidating the position of Italian industry in the world. Defence is a stimulus for the development of innovative and increasingly advanced technological solutions”, said Italian Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini after the delivery of the first two Eurofighter Typhoons to the Air force of Kuwait.
“The Eurofighter Typhoons we have developed and produced for the Kuwait Air Force are the most advanced in the whole history of the European programme. We will provide the country with an impressive air defence capability. In cooperation with the Italian Air Force we trained their pilots in our training centres in Italy, we built state-of-the-art infrastructures to support and maintain a fleet of 28 aircraft. The milestones we are celebrating today is the result of the effective cooperation between the two countries, where Institutions, Armed Forces and Industry have worked together in synergy,” said Alessandro Profumo, Chief Executive Officer of Leonardo, the company part of the the Eurofighter GmbH consortium that built the jets according to the specific requirements of the Kuwaiti Air Force.
Indeed, Kuwait’s Typhoons are going to be the most advanced Eurofighter ever produced: they will be equipped with the first variant of the Captor E AESA radar, the ECRS Mk 0, together with P3Eb (Phase 3 Enhancements Package b) multi-role features and the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod. This specific configuration was developed and tested in Italy using the Typhoon ISPA 6 (Instrumented Series Production Aircraft).
The delivery of the first two aircraft, that occurred in the year of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Italian-Kuwaiti relations, is just one the milestones of the cooperation between the Italian Air Force and Kuwait. In fact, the Italian Air Force provides training of Kuwaiti cadet pilots for the attainment of their military pilots’ license; the advanced training for the latter’s operational conversion on the Eurofighter at the type OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) of the 20° Gruppo (Squadron) of the 4° Stormo at Grosseto, and the training of aircraft maintainers for the same aircraft.
The Kuwait Air Force is also planning to establish its own OCU at Al Salem air base, with the help of some Leonardo Test Pilots as well as some IPs from the Italian Air Force.
