Quotes of the Day

In the world of business and industry, "up in the air" isn't usually a good way to describe a product. For the four-nation Eurofighter consortium, though, it will be both a relief and sweet vindication to be able to use those four words to describe the long-awaited Typhoon jet.

The next-generation fighter takes off this week, when the first jets off the British and German production lines fly in formation at the Farnborough Air Show outside London. The Typhoon is expected to enter service by the end of 2002, after more than two decades of planning, 112.5 billion in R and D, repeated delays and years of criticism. But those behind Europe's largest-ever military aerospace venture should keep their crash helmets on. With the competition ready to fight over foreign sales and the critics as critical as ever, the Typhoon won't reach comfortable cruising altitude anytime soon.

The effort to build a joint European fighter has endured bureaucratic dithering and the rises and falls of governments, as most joint ventures of the European powers must. It survived when France quit to build its own combat aircraft, leaving four countries — Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain — to sign the Eurofighter development pact in 1988. The target date for production was 1996, and the $10 billion estimate for development cost was so great that a German defense official said, "There's no going back." Four years later, his country tried to test this theory, announcing plans to pull out of the project after fierce domestic opposition. Equally fierce peer pressure from its partners kept Germany in, and the project alive. But the jet's debut was pushed back to 2002 and its sticker price crept up from around €40 million to the current €60 million. That will get you a plane that Eurofighter test pilot Christian Worning praises as "miles ahead of anything we've seen." It's fast, with a top speed of Mach 2. It's highly computerized, making it not only easy for pilots to fly but also adaptable to new technology. And it's versatile, geared primarily for air-to-air combat but with air-to-ground attacking ability.

Some critics, though, say the Typhoon is designed for the wrong kind of warfare. "It's state-of-the-art. So what?" says Susan Willett, a defense analyst at the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research. "In the new strategic environment, this aircraft has an exceedingly limited role." The idea for the Eurofighter comes from an era when midair tussles with MiGs were a real concern; but these days, missions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan emphasize air-to-ground roles.

Then there are the numbers. Even Typhoon fans who believe Europe should nurture its military-aircraft industry say the four consortium countries don't need the 620 fighters they've committed to. For instance, Britain is down for 232 and has an option for 65 more. "We're buying cold war numbers," says Andrew Brookes, aerospace analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "232? That's no reflection of the threat."

Not the ex-Soviet one, at least. In new Euro-math, 232 planes for Britain plus 180 for Germany plus 121 for Italy plus 87 for Spain is an equation to fight not a military enemy but a socio-economic one: unemployment. Eurofighter says its project has already helped to secure 30,000 jobs and will play a role in creating as many as 120,000 more.

At more than 1300,000 per job, this employment plan ain't cheap. But it is politically attractive. "We've got a project that will create European jobs," says Eurofighter exec Andy Lewis, and that pledge has helped sell the Typhoon to Greece (60 jets) and Austria (24). Eurofighter "will generate 200 percent of the [€1.79 billion] contract's value in business for Austrian industry," said Martin Bartenstein, Austria's Economics Minister.

The consortium aims to export as many as 500 Typhoons over the next 20 years. By its own estimates, that's about a third of the combat-aircraft market. But the competition will be tough. Eurofighter isn't the only one who can play the jobs card, and the Pentagon in particular has been lobbying hard to keep users of aging jets like the F-16 buying American.

The U.S. effort is paying off. In April, the Dutch chose the U.S.-built Joint Strike Fighter, which won't enter service until 2008 at the earliest, over the Eurofighter because of expected technology transfer and benefits for local firms such as Philips. Eurofighter took the loss hard. Lewis is still asking, "What's the magic ingredient that we didn't have right in the Netherlands?"

He may not have the answer, but he's still got the faith: Europe can take the U.S. on and succeed. The Eurofighter isn't just about building and selling jets. It's also a matter of pride. "It's not because we don't like Americans," says Worning, the test pilot. "We want to be equal." A worthy goal? Yes. But a sound business plan? We'll just have to wait and see how it flies.

• By JEFF CHU
• The €12.5 billion Typhoon finally takes off. Who'll buy it?