Finnish Air Force Commences Eurofighter Flight Evaluation for HX Fighter Procurement

The Finnish Air Force (FAF) has commenced flight evaluation trials of the Eurofighter jet as part of its HX fighter procurement program to replace its Boeing F/A- 18 fleet.

Contenders to replace the aircraft include Lockheed Martin F-35, Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen.

“The first candidate to undergo tests in Finland will be the Eurofighter Typhoon. Two Royal Air Force Eurofighters arrived at Pirkkala Air Base on Thursday 9 January,” Finnish Air Force (Ilmavoimat) said last Thursday.

The five-day tests that began on January 10 will see Eurofighter aircraft from the UK Royal Air Force put through their paces in a series of evaluations in the cold conditions of Tampere, the company said in a statement.

Eurofighter will be tested under cold weather conditions to verify the performance claims made in the responses to the Request for Quotation documents submitted in last year, along with performance values previously verified in laboratory tests.

The trials programme will enable the Finnish Air Force to assess the performance of each aircraft, systems and sensors in the Finnish operating environment. The Eurofighter trials will be led by air crew from BAE Systems' Flight Operations team, led by Chief Test Pilot, Steve Formoso and test pilot Luke Gili-Ross.