Kuwait has welcomed two more Eurofighter Typhoon jets at the Ali Al Salem air base, in a delivery that brought the country’s Typhoon fleet to six airframes.
The Typhoons touched down on September 28 as part of a wider order for a total of 28 aircraft that will be delivered to the country’s air force.
The ferry flight for the new Kuwaiti Eurofighters was made possible thanks to support from the Italian Air Force, which provided air-to-air refueling via a KC-767A tanker from 14th Wing, Pratica di Mare.
The Eurofighter Kuwait program is part of a wider and deeper collaboration between the Italian Air Force and the Kuwait Air Force, spanning over operations, pilots training and support. The Italian Air Force is ensuring the initial training of the engineers and technicians in Italy, who will later support the Typhoon fleet in country.
Kuwait received the first two airframes in December last year, and another two in March this year.
One of the two new aircraft was recently among the protagonists at the most recent edition of the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in the UK which saw the participation of the Kuwaiti Air Force, for the first time since 1993.
“This year we are very proud to return to the Royal International Air Tattoo with the most advanced Eurofighter Typhoon in the world. Thanks to the capabilities of this platform, the Kuwait Air Force is one of the best equipped air forces in the region,” Colonel Eisa Airashidi, commander of the 7th Squadron of the Kuwait Air Force, commented at the time.
“We are proud to deliver to our customer two more new Eurofighters, including the first single-seater aircraft. They join the aircraft already in service at the new Salem Al Sabah base which in the meantime have reached the milestone of one hundred air sorties,” Guido Sibona, Vice President of Leonardo’s Eurofighter Programme, said.
The Eurofighter program is managed by the Eurofighter GmbH consortium, a company based in Munich (Germany) owned by Leonardo, BAE Systems and Airbus Defense & Space for Germany and Spain. On the government side, the program is managed by the NATO Eurofighter & Tornado Management Agency (NETMA), which was set up to meet the procurement needs of the air forces from the four participating countries, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain.
According to the Eurofighter consortium, Kuwait is one of nine nations to operate the Typhoon, joining Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, and Qatar. As of July this year, the program had 680 aircraft on order, with 574 airframes delivered.
