WHARTON, England, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- It seemed a logical idea in 1999, when British defense officials reviewed how they were going to use their new Eurofighter combat aircraft. They would get rid of the plane's 27 mm Mauser cannon and save some money. Who needed a gun in 21st century air-to-air missile-blasting combat anyway? The plane's future would be against other fighters, where missiles would be king.
But that was then, before Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists changed the rules about air defense, and before it became obvious there weren't going to be any major threats from fighter aircraft in the near future. Now, the arguments about the gun are raging again.
How do you stop a hijacker from flying an airliner into a building if you've only got missiles to destroy the whole plane and its passengers? How do you deal with a pickup truck full of al-Qaida suspects charging across the desert if you spot them by chance from 15,000 feet?
As the first Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons come off the production line here at BAE Systems plant in the northwest of the country, it comes as a surprise that in spite of the gun reluctantly being installed it remains disconnected, no bullets have been bought for it, and there are no plans to use it.
The four-nation aircraft will be the mainstay of Britain's air defenses for the next 30 years, as well as those of Germany, Italy and Spain. But while those countries have prepared the gun for use -- and indeed America's new F-22 Raptor stealth fighter continues to be developed with a cannon -- Britain officially still sees it as unnecessary. Officials say it is installed only because they have already paid $160 million for it (out of a total British project cost of $36 billion). They also maintain that it provides the exact weight and shape required by the plane's design, and by not buying bullets or maintaining it, they will save $4 million a year.
But Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, one of the RAF's leading air power strategists and a former Tornado F3 fighter pilot, said: "This is old thinking, not to have a useable gun on a fighter. If you are only going to go up against other combat planes then, OK, you use your missiles. But when you are dealing with terrorists and other unpredictable situations, you want all the flexibility you can get. And a gun gives you a lot of utility."
Given the terrible choice of watching a hijacked airliner be flown into a major building or shooting it down with a missile, Air Cmdr. Lambert said, a pilot should at least have the additional option of firing tracer shots from a gun to warn the hijackers that they will be shot down if they continue. A gun could also be used to disable an engine to ensure the hijackers know they will not be allowed to reach their target.
"We were prepared to use gunfire against helicopters breaching U.N. rules over Bosnia in the 1990s," said Lambert, former commander of 23 Squadron's Tornado F3 fighters. "A gun gives you a degree of escalation you don't get from having missiles or nothing. In some circumstances, you could also use it for strafing targets like pickup trucks in the desert." There are reports that American F-16 fighters have used their guns to strafe Osama bin Laden's forces engaged in relatively close firefights with U.S. troops in Afghanistan."
Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge, chief of RAF Strike Command, visiting Warton to congratulate a joint RAF-BAE Systems sales team on their return from an unprecedented flight of two RAF Eurofighters to Singapore, rolled his eyes when asked about the gun. "This is discussed endlessly with my colleagues," he said. "I have my doubts. There is no such thing as a knee-capping (a warning to stop) against an airplane. All you can do with a gun is fire a warning shot." But he added that "nothing has been ruled out" about its possible future use.
While the first operational fighter Typhoons will go on quick reaction alert over the United Kingdom in late 2007, the first multi-role ground strike-capable Typhoons are due in early 2008, equipped with Paveway II 1,000 pound precision guided bombs and laser-designation pods. So far 55 of the fighters have been contracted for Tranche 1 production for the RAF, but the British Ministry of Defense is pushing for some of the later ones to be redesigned for bombing operations. The Spanish, Germans and Italians have already signed up for the second tranche of planes, which should all be multi-role, though the British are holding out for a better price. A final third tranche for 89 Typhoons remains part of the overall Eurofighter agreement but is not being discussed.
Eight of the planned 232 Eurofighters have been delivered to the RAF so far, each costing about $100 million. The aircraft, originally designed in the 1980s during the Cold War, has been dogged by problems and is six years late and about $5.5 billion over budget. However, progress is now going well, and last month it was praised by the U.S. Air Force's chief of staff, Gen. John P. Jumper. He concluded a test flight in a German Eurofighter by telling reporters: "I've flown all the Air Force jets. None was as good as the Eurofighter."
He praised the plane for its agility, maneuverability, acceleration and precise navigation.
