§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Eurofighter will be operational in the strike role. [49756]
§ Mr. HoonEurofighter will be a multi-role aircraft, conditioned primarily for air defence. It will, however, have an initial air-to-surface capability as soon as it becomes available for operational deployment, in the second half of the decade. We plan to enhance this capability during incremental upgrades.