Milestone for new Eurofighter test plane

MANCHING, Germany, March 26 (UPI) -- Cassidian of Germany, part of the Eurofighter consortium, announced a milestone in construction of the Eurofighter IPA 8 test plane.

It recently mounted the right wing, the connection between the cockpit, vertical tail unit and wings with the Instrumented Production Aircraft 8s fuselage.

"IPA 8 is based on the latest Eurofighter Tranche 3 construction standard and is ... equipped with state-of-the-art flight test instrumentation," said Berndt Wuensche, the company's Eurofighter program manager. "That makes the aircraft the most advanced Eurofighter in the world.

"IPA 8 can make essential contributions to further developing Eurofighter capabilities in the coming decades, for example, electronic beam scanning for radar, enhanced weapon integration and improvements to mission equipment."

The test aircraft will be fitted with advanced structural components -- such as hydraulics, defensive aids and electrical systems.

The plane features special sensors to transmit systems performance data in real time to engineers on the ground while in flight.