Eurofighter output is on the rise, thanks to a recent run of top-up orders from three of its core nations, and as the consortium eyes a fresh round of export deals.

Industrial partners Airbus Defence & Space (representing Germany and Spain), BAE Systems (the UK) and Leonardo (Italy) are in the process of increasing their combined annual production of the combat aircraft from around 14 jets towards a target of 20, Eurofighter chief executive Jorge Tamarit Degenhardt reveals.

“And we are eyeing already 30, and beyond,” he adds. At the peak of production earlier in the programme, the partners were assembling up to 60 examples per year.

Factors driving the rate increase include the receipt of contracts to deliver additional Eurofighters to Germany, Italy and Spain. Their combined commitments total 127 of the Eurojet EJ200-powered aircraft.

“We are expecting export orders to crystallise as well,” Tamarit Degenhardt said during the Royal Aeronautical Society’s annual FCAS Summit in London on 22 May.

The UK Ministry of Defence and BAE are leading a long-running campaign to sell a follow-on batch of Eurofighter Typhoons to Saudi Arabia, which already has 72 in service. Delays in the process have prompted Riyadh to also assess the Boeing F-15EX and Dassault Aviation Rafale for its 54-unit requirement.

Tamarit Degenhardt believes Turkey has a glaring need to acquire new fighters and bolster its presence around NATO’s “Black Sea flank”. A selection by Ankara would “ensure interoperability”, he says, pointing to the regular deployment of Eurofighters to the region in support of the western military alliance’s enhanced air policing provision.

Other potential prospects could include Portugal – which earlier this year suggested that it might look at alternatives to the Lockheed Martin F-35 when replacing its Lockheed F-16s; Austria – a current operator of 15 early-model Eurofighters; and Poland, which is rapidly expanding its airpower capabilities due to Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

“It is a difficult decision,” he tells FlightGlobal of the consortium’s rate rise plans, “because these opportunities need to crystallise. But we need to start making decisions as an industry today to support that. Our shareholders are taking the decision – we would not be doing that if we did not believe that the opportunities were realistic.”

Meanwhile, Eurofighter’s CEO – who has held the position since January 2025 – is convinced the type will remain combat-relevant well past the middle of the century, and especially after nations commit to an anticipated mid-life upgrade.

He notes that the newly ordered assets for Germany, Italy and Spain will provide “jets that will be operating until the 2060s”. Initial deliveries under Berlin’s Quadriga and Madrid’s Halcon I deals will be made later this year.

“The Typhoon is an iconic combat aircraft, but it must not be seen as a legacy platform,” he says. “Today, we are Europe’s combat sovereign, technological and industrial solution of choice. And when we are eyeing FCAS [Future Combat Air System] programmes, this technological and industrial base that started with the Typhoon programme will be a bridge for this next generation.

“We really have a role to play – not just in a sense of delivering jets and capabilities, but also for society,” he says, noting that analysis commissioned by the consortium indicates that the programme will support around 100,000 jobs annually over the coming decade.

During a recent meeting with defence ministers from the programme’s partners, “We got a clear message from the core nations: we must get ready to boost, sustain and develop capabilities smarter, more efficiently and faster,” he says.

“All of these jets that are being ordered that will be delivered in a couple of years, they will be contemporary with FCAS operations. We have a sense of responsibility that Eurofighter will be the first combat platform to be involved in the new FCAS air power operational environment,” Tamarit Degenhardt says.

“We are helping our customers to develop new technologies on a proven platform, and benefit from common lessons. So, every pound that is invested in the Eurofighter has an effect towards a euro spend on FCAS or GCAP,” he argues, referring to Europe’s pair of programmes to develop sixth-generation fighters.

“We have reached the moment for a mid-life upgrade on the Eurofighter, as the software and hardware architecture has reached its limit in terms of capacity,” he says. Also referred to as long-term evolution (LTE), this work “must be seen as paramount to ensure Typhoon operations in the FCAS arena”, he urges.

“We need to increase our platform’s multi-role capacity and flexibility. We must continue to support Typhoon as a combat mass for Europe as we move forward in FCAS.

“We must increase the number of weapons and to continue weapons development with existing stores, as we are moving to an interconnected environment.” He cites as examples “Meteor, Taurus, Spear 3, AARGM”, along with an enabling aerodynamic enhancement kit, and the integration of Saab’s Arexis electronic warfare system; an update being made for an EK-variant subset of Germany’s current fleet.

“We must improve and reduce the time of these upgrades, both for hardware and software, and radically accelerate that, while segregating the safety critical architecture,” he adds.

Meanwhile, he hopes that the UK – the only core nation not to have placed a top-up order – will decide to extend the Typhoon’s operational life beyond its current planned out of service date. Such a decision would strengthen the combined commitment to advance the LTE activity, he says.

Referring to a future class of “sensors and effectors”, he notes: “the platform to test all of these technologies that we will put into an FCAS environment is the Eurofighter.” As an example, this could include “full exploration of the combat cloud” – an overarching data network.

“We need to be fully interoperable with unmanned air systems… and to provide increments in our platform to help with these future operating models,” he says.

“We are not competing with FCAS. We are not a stealth fighter, but this doesn’t mean we don’t fit in the battlespace. We must explore the advantages that we have from a non-stealth platform, responding in the context of the FCAS operating environment.”

The Eurofighter is, he summarises: “a platform that bridges generations, connects nations, and shows that the lessons of today forge the technologies of tomorrow”.