West Germany continued to refine the TKF-90 concept. The RAF rejected the P.106 concept on the grounds it had "half the effectiveness of the two-engined aircraft at two-thirds of the cost". The UK produced two designs the P.106 was a single-engined "lightweight" fighter, superficially resembling the JAS 39 Gripen, the P.110 was a twin-engined fighter. The development of different national prototypes continued. It was at this stage of development the Eurofighter name was first attached to the aircraft. In October 1979 Dassault joined the ECF team for a tri-national study, which became known as the European Combat Aircraft. In 1979, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) and British Aerospace (BAe) presented a formal proposal to their respective governments for the ECF, the European Collaborative Fighter or European Combat Fighter. Although the British Aerospace designers rejected some of its advanced features such as engine vectoring nozzles and vented trailing edge controls, a form of boundary layer control, they agreed with the overall configuration. This was a cranked delta wing design with forward close-coupled- canard controls and artificial stability. However, the simultaneous West German requirement for a new fighter had led by 1979 to the development of the TKF-90 concept. The P.96 design had little potential for growth, and when it entered production, it would secure few exports in a market in which the Hornet would be well established. While the design would have met the Air Staff's requirements, the UK air industry had reservations, as it appeared to be very similar to the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, which was then well advanced in its development.
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The AST 403 specification, issued by the Air staff in 1972, led to the P.96 conventional "tailed" design presented in the late 1970s. The UK had identified a requirement for a new fighter as early as 1971. 2.1.1 Radar signature reduction features.The type has also taken primary responsibility for air-defence duties for the majority of customer nations. The Typhoon had its combat debut during the 2011 military intervention in Libya with the Royal Air Force and the Italian Air Force, performing aerial reconnaissance and ground-strike missions. Later production aircraft have been increasingly better equipped to undertake air-to-surface strike missions and to be compatible with an increasing number of different armaments and equipment, including Storm Shadow and the RAF's Brimstone. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a highly agile aircraft, designed to be a supremely effective dogfighter in combat. The air forces of Oman and Kuwait are export customers, bringing the procurement total to 599 aircraft as of 2016. The Typhoon entered operational service in 2003 it has entered service with the air forces of Austria, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Saudi Arabia. Political issues in the partner nations significantly protracted the Typhoon's development the sudden end of the Cold War reduced European demand for fighter aircraft, and debate existed over the aircraft's cost and work share. The aircraft's name, Typhoon, was adopted in September 1998 the first production contracts were also signed that year. A technology demonstration aircraft, the British Aerospace EAP, first took flight on 6 August 1986 the first prototype of the finalised Eurofighter made its first flight on 27 March 1994. Disagreements over design authority and operational requirements led France to leave the consortium to develop the Dassault Rafale independently. The aircraft's development effectively began in 1983 with the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, a multinational collaboration among the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
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NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency manages the project and is the prime customer.
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The Typhoon was designed and is manufactured by a consortium of Alenia Aermacchi ( Leonardo since 2017), Airbus Group, and BAE Systems that conducts the majority of the project through a joint holding company, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH formed in 1986. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard- delta wing, multirole fighter. £125m (including development + production costs)