Designed as an agile air superiority fighter aircraft with a potent ground attack capability to replace Germany’s ageing fleet of F-4 Phantoms, the Eurofighter Typhoon entered German Air Force service in 2003. Tracing its roots back to the earlier German TKF-90 and Anglo-German Agile Combat Aircraft programmes, it was the result of over two decades of development by Britain, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The joint project began in 1983 as a five-nation programme; however, France struggled to reconcile its requirements with those of the other four nations, and ultimately left the programme in 1985 to focus on developing its own Rafale aircraft. The four remaining nations pushed ahead with what was then known as the European Fighter Aircraft; by the mid-1990s, prototypes were taking to the sky, and by 2005 it had entered service with all four partner nations.

The delivery of Eurofighters was split into Tranches and then Blocks. To get the aircraft into service quicker, the first Blocks (Tranche 1 Blocks 1 & 2) were delivered while the air-to-ground capability was still being developed. These were followed by the Tranche 1 Block 5 which added a rudimentary air-to-ground capability, and then later by more advanced Tranche 2 & 3 aircraft. These aircraft featured many improvements, including improved radar processing and a vastly expanded air-to-ground capability.

The EF-2000 Typhoon (Block 10 T2) was introduced in Update "Storm Warning". As the name suggests, it represents a Tranche 2 Eurofighter and so provides players with an awesome mix of superb flight performance and a huge payload of both air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry. While German Eurofighters were not equipped with the PIRATE IRST system used by other nations, the EF-2000 still excels in the air-to-air role. It boasts a high thrust-to-weight ratio and agility, along with a powerful radar and large missile load, making it a potent adversary in both close-range combat and BVR engagements. In the air-to-ground domain, the EF-2000’s massive weapons load makes it a true terror on the battlefield.