The Typhoon was developed jointly between Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain as a multi-role fighter. Although it is optimised as a fighter for air superiority, it also has comprehensive capabilities for air-to-surface attack; close support, reconnaissance and anti-ship.

Development of the Eurofighter really started in the 1980s, when the 'Fighter 90' project brought four european nations together to work on a new fighter aircraft. Variations in membership of the various groups working on the joint development of a european fighter included France from time to time, but eventually the French decided to pursue their own design, which became the Dassault Rafale.

The Typhoon is 70% carbon fibre, 12% glass reinforced plastics and only 15% metal: mostly aluminium and titanium alloy. Although it is not truly a stealth aircraft, this choice of materials gives it a very small radar profile.

Power comes from a pair of Eurojet EJ200 turbofan engines, which enable the craft to cruise at supersonic speeds without afterburner.

Historically, aircraft have been designed to be stable, but the Eurofighter is intentionally unstable, tending to swing upwards. This makes it very mobile but it also means that it depends heavily on advanced computer controls, which interpret the pilot's commands and adjust them to take into account the plane's characteristics. It will also convert extreme manoeuvring commands to take into account the aircraft's operational extremes and so help to prevent stalling or undue stress on the airframe.

The mini-wings called 'canard wings' on the front, either side of the cockpit, are moveable together or separately, to support steering and rolling. Non-critical commands can be given by speech and a voice warning system alerts the pilot if he is unable to react to visual displays. The most important of the on-screen information is reflected directly into the pilot's visor, using image intensifiers in the dark, or an infra-red image if necessary, and the pilot can choose to track targets in the visor if he wants to.

The typhoon can also take automatic avoidance measures if it recognises a threat and has PIR (Passive Infra Red) Airborne Tracking Equipment - known as PIRATE. Its sensors can even differentiate between friend and foe.

As well as the development partners, Austria and Saudi Arabia have also ordered the Eurofighter