The first Instrumented Series Production Aircraft (ISPA 6) equipped with the Kuwait Air Force configuration successfully completed its first flight on 23 December.
A contract for the supply of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role fighter aircraft was signed between the Kuwait Ministry of Defence and Leonardo Aircraft Division, acting as Eurofighter Prime Contractor Organisation, in April 2016.
The first ISPA 6 flight, conducted at the Flight Test Centre of Leonardo Aircraft Division in Turin-Caselle, Italy, was the first to fly the innovative Captor E-Scan Radar with Phase Enhancement P3Eb.
This is the most advanced variant of the fighter jet ever made and will put the Kuwait Air Force at the front-line of the fighter technology when the aircraft will enter into service with the State of Kuwait in 2020.
The capability package for Kuwait includes the integration of Storm Shadow and Brimstone and other air-to-surface weapons. Moreover, it foresees the integration of a new advanced laser designator pod (the Lockheed Martin Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod) that will expand Eurofighter’s portfolio of cleared laser designator pods; the introduction of the DRS-Cubic ACMI P5 combat training pod and an enhanced navigation aid (VOR).