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Eurofighter canât fly
THE RAFâs new £43million Eurofighter jet cannot fly in cloud or carry out aerial combat, tests have shown. A leaked MoD report reveals the aircraft should not be flown in action without a safety pilot in the back seat. High-powered computers which fly the Eurofighter are unreliable and risk throwing the plane into âa catastrophic spin.â Details are revealed in a test pilotâs report after an eight-month trial period. The report says the computer is in danger of switching from flight mode to ground mode while in the air. It adds: âIt is recommended as essential that the cause of this fault are investigated, understood and if necessary rectified.â MoD chiefs insist the Eurofighter is still in its development stages and problems are being addressed. The aircraft, a joint project involving the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy, has been jinxed by a series of faults. It should have been handed to the RAF four years ago but is massively behind schedule. It is set to replace the Tornado F3 fighter bombers â but Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is already threatening to cancel many of the orders to save taxpayersâ cash. The damning new report comes just a week after it was revealed another new jet is too fat to fly. The Joint Strike Fighter may be too heavy to take off from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. There are also computer problems with the Armyâs new Apache helicopter gunships, which cannot fly in bad weather.Posted by: Howard UK 2004-05-25 |
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