LONDON — Eurofighter 's Typhoon moved a step closer to achieving full multi-role status on Friday when a test aircraft successfully fired the Storm Shadow cruise missile for the first time.
A BAE System-based Typhoon conducted the test at the UK Ministry of Defence Aberporth firing range, Eurofighter said in a statement released Monday.
The announcement of the successful test took place just 24 hours after the opening of the Dubai air show where a Royal Air Force Typhoon is on display as part of a renewed drive by the British and their Eurofighter partners Italy, Germany and Spain to secure new export customers for the combat jet.
Saudi Arabia and Oman are Gulf customers for the jet and Kuwait said in September it intends to order 28 jets in a government-to-government deal with Italy.
A further tranche of jets for Saudi Arabia and an order from Bahrain are the most likely candidates for further Typhoon sales in the region.
The Typhoon is being built by an industrial consortium including Airbus Defence and Space, BAE Systems and Finmeccancia.
Eurofighter officials said further integration work with the MBDA developed Storm Shadow including further missile releases, are planned for later this month.
"During November, we will see further integration work with Storm Shadow, including missile releases," said Paul Smith, the Typhoon capability manager at Eurofighter.
British, Italian and Saudi air forces deploy the long range cruise missile on Panavia Tornado strike jets. All three operators also have Typhoon's in their fleets.
The Typhoon is already cleared to use Raytheon Paveway precision guided weapons, including the latest Paveway IV bomb which is carried by British and Saudi jets.
The addition of the Storm Shadow is part of what is known as Phase 2 Enhancement Capability Update (P2E) which also includes integration of the new Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile developed by MBDA for Typhoon and other European combat jets.
An upcoming test firing of the Meteor on Typhoon will be the sixth on the aircraft type as it heads for a missile in service date on the aircraft of 2017.
Smith said preparation for the next Meteor test firing were currently underway.
Eurofighter used February's IDEX defense show in Abu Dhabi to announce it was also spending a further £165 million upgrading Typhoon capabilities in a PE3 improvements package which includes integration of the MBDA Brimstone 2 missiles and other upgrades improvements. That's due to be delivered in 2017.
Smith, in Dubai supporting the Typhoon sales effort, said customers were now discussing the next phase of development beyond PE3.
"We are currently agreeing on the content and schedule of future weapons system program. These will include avionic anhancements, such as MIDS JTRS, and the potential integration of other weapons such as the Small Diameter Bomb 2 and the Marte-ER anti-ship missile, which we know are of interest to some of our customers. It will also see the integration of Eurofighter's new E-Scan radar," he said.
At the Royal International Air Tattoo in the UK in July, British defense procurement minister Philip Dunne said the partner nations in Typhoon had recently agreed to a development road map out to 2030 for Typhoon.
Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.
