Germany Suspends Eurofighter Deliveries

The German Air Force has temporarily suspended delivery of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets following the discovery of quality problems involving the connection between the vertical stabilizers and the body of the aircraft.
In a notification to the German Bundestag, the Ministry of Defence said that drillings and the removal of burr were not conducted according to specifications.
The Typhoon suffered a similar problem last year when Germany, Italy and Spain all halted deliveries of the jet after a number of drilled bolt holes in a different part of the rear fuselage were identified as having not been de-burred satisfactorily.
The Eurofighter consortium confirmed that it had now found a new manufacturing quality problem on the aircraft.
Consortium member BAE Systems is responsible for the manufacture of parts involved in last year's problem, as well as the current issue.
The German MoD stressed that while flight safety is not affected in the short run, long-time effects were possible.
All German Eurofighters in service are being closely monitored and operations of the German fleet are not expected to be affected, said the MoD.
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