£35m Eurofighter crashes during Spanish test

Christine Grant

AN INVESTIGATION was launched last night after a Eurofighter jet, dubbed one of the world’s most advanced planes, crashed during a training exercise in Spain.

It is the first crash involving the multi-role fighter, developed by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, and could be a further setback to a project already dogged by delays.

The Eurofighter Typhoon DA6 came down as it was flying out of Getafe - home of the Spanish test centre for the aircraft - at an altitude of 15,000 metres (45,000ft). Both its engines failed simultaneously and, despite efforts by the Spanish pilot and his co-pilot, who successfully ejected from the plane, it crashed near the village of Belvis de la Jara.

Last night, opposition politicians called for a full statement on the implications. The shadow defence secretary, Bernard Jenkin, said: "This is terrible news.

"We must hope that this will not result in any further delays to the Eurofighter programme, which is essential for the RAF’s future capability. The aircraft’s in-service date was meant to be the end of the year. I hope this can still be achieved."

The communications director for Eurofighter, Ian Bustin, said they were confident that they would establish the cause of the crash quickly.

It was not possible to put a price on the plane as it was a test aircraft and had a lot of extra equipment on board, but a normal Eurofighter costs between £30 and £35 million.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We regret hearing about this accident but we are pleased to hear there were no casualties.

"We remain committed to buying the 232 aircraft we have committed to but it is too early to comment on the implications of the crash on the test programme or the strategy that is in place."

Conceived of as long ago as 1984 to take on the likes of the Russian MiG 29 and Sukhoi Su 30’s over Central Europe, the fighter was originally meant to have entered service a decade ago.

Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are due to buy a total of 620 Typhoon Eurofighters, with delivery of the first production package of 148 jets running through to 2005.

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