Defence Minister Luke Pollard has confirmed that Britain will manufacture a large share of the components for the Typhoon aircraft expected to be ordered by both Germany and Italy.
Responding to written parliamentary questions from Ben Obese-Jecty MP on 9 September, Pollard detailed how the United Kingdom’s industrial base is guaranteed a 37% workshare in the Eurofighter programme.
Pollard explained that “it is the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency who set the industrial sub-system production and workshare agreements across the partner nations. Through partner nation agreement, NETMA have set United Kingdom industrial workshare as 37%.”
He added that Eurofighter GmbH manages subsystem and component manufacturing orders across the industrial base of each partner nation in line with that agreement.
The workshare guarantees the UK a leading role in producing several of the most complex and critical sections of the Typhoon airframe and systems.
According to Pollard, “some of the major components that UK leads on the manufacturing include the front and rear fuselage, windscreen and canopy, fin and rudder, engine bay doors, foreplane and a range of major avionics systems.”
This applies equally to the Typhoons set to be procured by Germany and those ordered by Italy. In both cases, UK factories and suppliers will remain central to the production line, with British industry responsible for key structural assemblies and avionics integration.