TYPHOON WARRIORS
We have been lucky enough to capture some of the activities undertaken by the RAF Typhoon Force since 2017 and it has led to some great imagery. After careful co-ordination through the media and communications specialists, as well as Air Traffic Control teams and aircrew, we have compiled some striking studies of one of the UKs most prolific and versatile types in action. Safety is paramount in aviation and it is a privilege to be trusted to work closely with professionals across the globe.
Images by Andy Donovan.
The United Kingdom Typhoon Force has become the backbone of the Royal Air Force in the past decade, with the type having matured into a highly capable and impressive platform which is now the first called upon in every operational theatre into which the UK commits its fast air assets. With its fleet as busy as ever, the RAF fields nine squadrons of the aircraft, spread across RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire and RAF Lossiemouth in Morayshire. Not to mention the permanently deployed aircraft at Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands and those at RAF Akrotiri in a forward-deployed setup in support of Operation SHADER.
Since the demise of the Panavia Tornado, the Typhoon has readily and successfully absorbed many of the capabilities once held on the vulnerable GR4 fleet, through upgrade and development programmes managed by the Eurofighter consortium which markets and supports the aircraft. Most notably, the type made the first live deployment of the Storm Shadow missile on 11 March 2021 - launched against Islamic State targets in cave systems south-west of the city of Erbil in northern Iraq, in support of Iraqi forces who identified the threats and called in the supporting air strikes. A weapon system previously solely employed by Tornado within the RAF, the Storm Shadow was considered optimal for the targets in question, due to its ability to place a heavy warhead precisely on Operation SHADER. The follow-up strikes with Paveway IV guided munitions, which were also employed on another cave complex on 12 March, hints at the incredibly impressive and versatile arsenal of air-to-ground options available on the jet, with other systems such as the MBDA Brimstone missile being equally adept at picking out a range of targets.
Typhoon was designed from the outset as a swing-role platform, enabling it to switch between air-to-air engagements to the role of prosecuting ground targets in a single mission. The immense power afforded to it by its twin Rolls-Royce EJ200 engines is no secret and as such it is known to be a deadly opponent in the aerial arena, when that thrust is coupled to its extreme agility. The airframe configuration is inherently unstable, with a large delta wing that generates incredible amounts of lift whilst being optimised for high speed performance and the canard surfaces ahead of it afford it eye-watering levels of agility - albeit, it is an aircraft that is only controllable through the stabilisation and control technology provided by its onboard computers. Interpreting pilot commands and relaying them via fibre-optic cables to the flight control actuators, the jet is fine-tuned to harness that instability and turn it to a flyer’s advantage. The leading edge slats further expand its envelope into the slow-speed environment by extending automatically to refine the airflow over the wing and provide the pilot with carefree handling characteristics in all flight regimes. Indeed Typhoon’s brute force and manoeuvrability is the reason why its pilots had to be supplied with custom-made G-suits when it was first introduced into service as the rigours of flying the jet were significantly more testing than other platforms which preceded it!
The aircraft remains a product of the consortium which continues to adapt it for new markets and improve its ability to deploy into the modern threat environment. Some of its technology is a product of UK development of other types though, with elements of its Helmet-Mounted Symbology System (HMSS) coming from types such as Jaguar and Harrier and further advanced by BAE Systems. Whilst coming with a weight penalty, the HMSS allows pilots to lock onto multiple air and ground targets and then prioritise them using voice commands - also slewing the aircraft’s sensors and weapons systems in the direction the pilot’s head turns.
Another first occurred for the RAF on Operation SHADER on 14 December 2021, when an ASRAAM missile left the pylon of a jet deployed over Syria in the first operational air-to-air engagement by an RAF Typhoon. Its target was a small hostile drone, which posed a threat to Coalition forces in the area of the At Tanf coalition base. Despite the small size of the drone the Typhoon proved itself capable of bringing down even the most challenging targets.
Crucially, the work of the Force is highlighted each year by the RAF’s Typhoon Display Team, a sub-ordinate of 29(R) Squadron at RAF Coningsby. The aircraft is professionally demonstrated across the UK and Europe each year by a single pilot who is selected from a group of instructors and a dedicated team of engineers who provide the much-needed support to the display, wherever it may go. The display routines are freshly developed each year, with the previous season’s pilot acting as mentor to the incumbent, as they form their full, rolling and flat display options (each tailored for different weather conditions) and gradually work them down to display height in the early months of the year before achieving Public Display Authority from Air Officer Commanding 1 Group RAF ahead of the air show calendar requiring their first performance. For the 2021 and 2022 seasons, the display aircraft boasted some rather distinctive colours and became known as ‘Blackjack’ - a phrase coined by RAF Photographers and attributed to not only its Union Flag markings but also the black paint beneath, which the specific airframe (ZJ914) attained in the service of IX(B) Squadron in the years prior to joining 29(R) Squadron’s strength.
Sadly the majority of the Typhoon fleet has adopted a standardised set of low-conspicuity markings in modern times. Unlike many European operators of the type, the RAF has stripped many of its jets of the colourful squadron identifiers which were worn with pride for decades, as a result of its need to rotate airframes through units as operational requirements necessitate. It is still possible to see marked aircraft, in the hands of IX(B) and 12 Squadron for example, but these tend to be the less deployable frames. In the former case - Tranche 1 machines which are due to be retired in fairly short order; alongside the twin-stick T.2 machines, as the Service takes up an F-35 style of continuity and training model whereby training events are conducted in the simulator or from observations of an instructor pilot in a separate aircraft.
Without doubt, Typhoon has cut its teeth and become the backbone of the RAF’s fast jet fleet - well optimised for the missions it has been called upon to undertake to-date. The challenge for the RAF now, will be continuing to keep the aircraft at the cutting edge of updates, as it bids to refine the aircraft in the decades ahead - competing to some extent, with the needs of other operators.
Images by Andy Donovan.