Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH

As of October 2026 – Two small duck wings ahead of the cockpit, a big delta wing, and beneath it a wide air intake like a smile: when a combat jet thunders over Germany, it’s usually a Eurofighter. The name of the company steering the whole program never appears on the fuselage – Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH of Hallbergmoos near Munich. Here you learn who is behind the consortium, how the work is divided between four countries, who flies the Typhoon and where you can best get it in front of your lens.

A consortium instead of a manufacturer

When you hear “manufacturer,” you think of factory halls and assembly lines. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH works differently. It is the program company of a joint project: it negotiates the contracts, coordinates the partner groups, steers further development and takes care of export. The aircraft themselves are built at the plants of the three shareholders.

The GmbH was founded in 1986, shortly after the partner countries had agreed to build a joint fighter. The founding shareholders were the four nations’ aerospace groups: Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm from Germany, British Aerospace from the United Kingdom, Aeritalia from Italy and CASA from Spain. The shares still reflect the division at the time, even though the names behind them have changed several times.

Through mergers in the European aerospace industry, the German and Spanish holdings now both lie with Airbus, 46 percent combined. BAE Systems is the successor of British Aerospace, and Leonardo emerged from Aeritalia, Alenia and Finmeccanica. Management traditionally rotates between the partner groups, so each country moves to the top at regular intervals.

NETMA and Eurojet: the other two building blocks

On the customer side stands no single air force but NETMA, the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency. It represents Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain jointly and orders on behalf of the four nations. As the name suggests, it also looks after the older Panavia Tornado, the countries’ first big joint combat jet project.

The engine comes from a company of its own: EuroJet Turbo GmbH was also founded in Hallbergmoos in 1986. Behind it stand Rolls-Royce, MTU Aero Engines, Avio Aero of Italy and ITP Aero of Spain. Its EJ200 delivers around 60 kilonewtons dry and over 90 kilonewtons of thrust with afterburner. Two of them sit in the rear of every Eurofighter.

From the EFA to the Typhoon

The story begins in the early 1980s. Five countries – France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain – wanted to jointly develop a Future European Fighter Aircraft in 1983. Their interests quickly diverged, though. France wanted a lighter aircraft that could also operate from aircraft carriers and claimed the leadership role. On August 2, 1985, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy agreed in Turin to build it without France, and Spain joined in September. France kept developing on its own – the result is the Dassault Rafale from Dassault Aviation.

British Aerospace had done a lot of groundwork. The EAP technology demonstrator flew at Warton in August 1986 and tested the basic layout with a delta wing and canards. In Germany, the project long ran publicly under the name “Jäger 90” (Fighter 90); internationally it was called EFA, and from 1992, after a rework of the program, EF 2000. The first prototype took off on March 27, 1994 in Bavaria, and a little later a British prototype flew at Warton too.

In January 1998, the partners signed the first series contract, and in September of the same year the aircraft got a name: Typhoon. It was initially intended for export, while the Royal Air Force uses it consistently. In Germany, most people still simply say “Eurofighter.” On August 4, 2003, the Bundeswehr accepted its first series aircraft, and on April 30, 2004, Fighter Wing 73 at Laage became the first Luftwaffe wing to take over the new jet.

Division of work across four countries

What is special about the Eurofighter is the distribution of work. Each partner country builds certain assemblies – and for all aircraft, including for export customers. The shares were based on the originally planned quantities: the United Kingdom got around 37 percent, Germany 29, Italy just under 20 and Spain 14 percent.

In the end, each partner assembles its own country’s aircraft. The German jets are built at Airbus in Manching near Ingolstadt, the British at BAE in Warton in Lancashire, the Italian at Leonardo in Caselle at Turin airport and the Spanish at Airbus in Getafe south of Madrid. Export orders go to a particular line depending on the contract – the aircraft for Saudi Arabia and Oman, for example, were handled via the British side, those for Kuwait via Italy.

The system is expensive and politically laborious but has one advantage: each country keeps know-how and jobs in its own house. According to Airbus, over 100,000 jobs at more than 400 suppliers across Europe depend on the program.

Tranches: how the program grows

The Eurofighter is counted not in production lots or series but in tranches. Each tranche is a procurement stage with its own equipment standard.

• Tranche 1 was the first series, delivered from 2003. The Royal Air Force has since retired its Tranche 1 aircraft.
• Tranche 2 mainly brought more powerful computers and expanded air-to-ground capabilities.
• Tranche 3A was agreed in 2009 and introduced further upgrades; the originally planned part 3B never materialized.
• Tranche 4 was ordered by Germany in November 2020 under the Quadriga program: 38 new jets that mainly replace the Luftwaffe’s oldest aircraft.
• Tranche 5 followed in 2025 with 20 further aircraft for Germany.

National programs run in parallel. Spain has ordered a total of 45 new Typhoons with the Halcón I (2022) and Halcón II (2024) contracts, Italy another 24 at the end of 2024. The Luftwaffe is also having 15 aircraft converted to the EK electronic warfare version. The most important technical innovation of recent years is the electronically scanned Captor-E radar, whose first customer was Kuwait.

Who flies the Typhoon

Ten nations are on the customer list. The four partner countries took the lion’s share, and six export customers add to that. The following details are based on publicly known orders; figures on active aircraft keep fluctuating through maintenance, retirement and new arrivals.

For you as a spotter in central Europe, the German and Austrian aircraft are the most relevant. The Luftwaffe has the Eurofighter in four wings: Tactical Air Force Wing 31 “Boelcke” (TaktLwG 31) at Nörvenich, TaktLwG 71 “Richthofen” at Wittmund, TaktLwG 73 “Steinhoff” at Laage near Rostock and TaktLwG 74 at Neuburg an der Donau. Laage shares its runway with the civil Rostock-Laage Airport – a rare combination in which you can see scheduled traffic and combat jets at the same airfield.

In the Luftwaffe, the Eurofighter replaced the F-4 Phantom II and is gradually taking over tasks from the Tornado. For nuclear sharing, Germany is procuring the F-35 from Lockheed Martin instead. The Typhoon thus remains the backbone of German air defense.

How to recognize a Eurofighter

You’ll find the details on the aircraft in the profile Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon. The short version for the fence: the jet has canards far forward beside the cockpit, a large delta wing with no horizontal stabilizer, a wide, rectangular air intake under the fuselage, two engines and one vertical stabilizer. At just under 16 meters long and around 11 meters of wingspan, it is somewhat bigger than many expect.

You’ll find more comparisons across Europe’s air forces in the article Recognizing combat jets in Europe.

Where you can spot the Eurofighter

At the air bases. The Luftwaffe’s four wings fly regularly on weekdays, much less on weekends and during vacation periods. Around the airfields there are often public paths with a view of arrivals and departures. What you may and may not do there is covered in the article Photographing at military airfields: the rules. The best locations for the German jets are collected in the guide Spotting the Eurofighter in Germany.

In Manching. At Airbus’s site near Ingolstadt, final assembly, factory flights and the Bundeswehr technical test center’s testing take place. Besides series aircraft, test aircraft turn up here too. The grounds themselves are a restricted area – photograph only from publicly accessible areas.

At air shows and open days. ILA Berlin is the most important trade show for the program in Germany, where Airbus and the Luftwaffe regularly show the Typhoon. Add Bundeswehr Day and open days at the air bases. In Austria, AIRPOWER in Zeltweg is worth a visit, home base of the Austrian Eurofighters. In the United Kingdom, the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford often shows Typhoons of several nations in one weekend.

In the United Kingdom. At the official RAF Coningsby viewing area in Lincolnshire, you see Typhoons of the Royal Air Force and of the joint squadron with Qatar up close. In the Welsh Mach Loop, military jets fly low through the valleys – with luck a Typhoon too. The article Mach Loop in Wales provides background.

At the Tiger Meet. Squadrons with a tiger tradition like to paint their jets conspicuously – Eurofighters have been among them too. What is behind the gathering is explained in the article NATO Tiger Meet.

Tracking and logbook

Military jets are often not visible in flight tracking at all, or only without identification. Some flights appear via multilateration with callsigns, others stay completely hidden. How you can still keep track is explained in the guide Tracking military aircraft online.

For your collection, it pays to keep consistent notes: type designator EUFI, serial, operator and location. With the Luftwaffe, a special livery often comes on top, for example for wing anniversaries. That way you can later see which wings and countries you’re still missing – and whether you already have a two-seater in your logbook.

If you want to see the predecessors, you’ll find them in the museum: the Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow has the Luftwaffe’s Phantom and Starfighter, among others, and the spot at Gatow airfield combines the visit with a walk around the grounds. In the United Kingdom, the RAF Museum Cosford shows, among other things, British development aircraft from the Typhoon’s prehistory.

Verdict

Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH is an unusual “manufacturer”: a program company that holds three groups and four nations together. What comes out of it you know from the sky over Germany – the Typhoon with its canards and chin intake, built in Manching, Warton, Caselle and Getafe.

More than three decades after the first flight, the program is by no means at its end. New tranches in Germany, the Halcón orders in Spain, further jets for Italy and Turkey’s entry keep the lines busy. For you as a spotter, that means: the Eurofighter remains the combat jet sighting par excellence in central Europe for a long time.