The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft. [3] [4] The Typhoon was originally designed as an air superiority fighter [5] and was produced by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo which undertook the majority of the project through a combined holding company, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH. The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency, representing the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, manages the project and is a major customerDevelopment of the aircraft effectively began in 1983 with the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, a multinational collaboration between the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Previously, Germany, Italy and the UK had jointly developed and deployed the Panavia Tornado fighter and would like to collaborate on a new project, with the addition of participating EU countries. However, disagreements over design authority and operational requirements led France to leave the consortium to develop the Dassault Rafale independently. A technology demonstration aircraft, British Aerospace EAP, first flew on 6 August 1986; the prototype Eurofighter made its maiden flight on 27 March 1994. The aircraft's name, Typhoon, was adopted in September 1998 and the first production contract was also signed that year.The sudden end of the Cold War reduced European demand for fighter aircraft and led to debates over the cost of the aircraft and the division of labor as well as the protracted development of the Typhoon: The Typhoon entered operational service in 2003 and is now in service with the air forces of Austria, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain , Saudi Arabia and Oman . Kuwait and Qatar have also ordered the aircraft, bringing the total procurement to 623 aircraft as of 2019.The Eurofighter Typhoon is an extremely agile aircraft, designed to be a highly effective dogfighter in combat. [7] Production aircraft were then increasingly better equipped to perform air-to-surface attack missions and to be compatible with a growing number of different weaponry and equipment, including Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles. The Typhoon made its combat debut during the 2011 military intervention in Libya with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Italian Air Force, conducting aerial reconnaissance and ground attack missions. This type also takes primary responsibility for air defense duties for most customer countries.