§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the first flight of the European fighter aircraft to take place; in what country it is to occur; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AitkenThe first flight of Eurofighter 2000 is expected this year. The contractor's programme envisages that a German-assembled prototype will be the first to fly, followed shortly after by a second aircraft in the United Kingdom.
The activities leading to first flight have been somewhat delayed by the programme review commissioned last year and the changes introduced as a result of decisions taken at the quadripartite ministerial meeting on 10 December 1992. A number of technical issues—none of them of a serious nature—remain to be resolved, including qualifications of the flight control system software—which is critical to flight safety—and which is taking longer than originally expected. The precise timing of first flight is a matter for the manufacturers to decide when they judge sufficient development progress has been made to allow flight testing to proceed safely.