Fallon to announce defensive upgrades for Typhoon fighters

LONDON — British Typhoon fighters are to get a significantly improved defensive aids suite in a deal expected to be announced Thursday by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

The deal to equip the Royal Air Force jets is worth about £40 million (U.S. $51 million) to the Leonardo-led EuroDass consortium responsible for developing the aircraft protection system, known as Praetorian.

Fallon is expected to speak at an air power conference on July 13 in London, where he is expected to make several Air Force-related announcements, including the Praetorian upgrade.

The Praetorian improvement is being undertaken solely for the British at this point, although all of the partner nations in the Eurofighter developed fighter program use the system.

Much of the work on the two-year program will be undertaken at Leonardo's site in Luton in southern England and the BAE Systems factory in Warton, northwest England, where the integration work takes place.   

The Praetorian system includes electronic support measures, missile warning, on-board electronic countermeasures and towed radar decoys.

The upgrade is part of a wider program of work being undertaken by industry and the Royal Air Force to improve Typhoon capabilities. These include software upgrades, development work on a new active electronically scanned array radar, and fitting the new Meteor air-to-air missile, Storm Shadow cruise missile and the Brimstone 2 ground attack missile.

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