Eurofighter and the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) have signed a long-anticipated contract to resume development, testing, and certification of the Aerodynamic Modification Kit (AMK) for the Eurofighter Typhoon, marking a significant milestone in the long-term evolution of Europe’s premier multirole combat aircraft. The agreement revives a programme that successfully completed a flight test campaign nearly a decade ago and now positions the AMK as a key element of the Typhoon’s Phase 4 Enhancement (P4E) roadmap.
The new contract reflects renewed urgency among European air forces to keep the Typhoon operationally dominant well into the mid-21st century. With the aircraft expected to form the backbone of European air defence into the 2060s, the AMK is designed to ensure that the platform remains effective against rapidly evolving threats that differ markedly from those envisaged when the Eurofighter was first conceived in the late Cold War era.
“Signing the AMK contract marks a major milestone for the Eurofighter programme, further enhancing the jet’s long-term capability,” said Jorge Tamarit-Degenhardt, Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter, in a statement accompanying the announcement.
The Aerodynamic Modification Kit is not a new idea. It was originally developed by Airbus as part of the Eurofighter Enhanced Manoeuvrability (EFEM) programme, which spanned approximately five years of aerodynamic studies and culminated in an extensive flight test campaign in 2015. Those trials involved pilots from Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom flying 36 sorties from Manching, Germany, using the Instrumented Production Aircraft 7 (IPA7).
During that campaign, the AMK demonstrated striking improvements in agility, controllability, and overall aerodynamic performance. However, despite the positive results, the kit was not immediately adopted for fleet-wide integration, largely due to shifting priorities and budgetary constraints among partner nations. The newly signed contract with NETMA now signals a clear intent to bring those enhancements into operational service.
Under the new agreement, development and production of the AMK will be conducted by Eurofighter partner companies Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, reinforcing the multinational industrial foundation of the programme. According to Eurofighter, the kit is now planned to be formally integrated as part of the Typhoon’s Phase 4 Enhancement, a comprehensive upgrade package intended to keep the aircraft competitive in increasingly contested air environments.
One of the most strategically significant aspects of the AMK is its role in accelerating the integration and certification of new weapons and external stores. Eurofighter’s statement notes that the kit will allow “faster integration of new weapons and certification of new external loads, including future anti-radar missiles, which enable the suppression and destruction of enemy air defence radars.”
This capability is particularly relevant to the Eurofighter EK (Elektronischer Kampf/Electronic Warfare), a dedicated Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD/DEAD) variant being developed for the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). The EK variant is planned to employ the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), significantly enhancing Germany’s ability to locate, suppress, and destroy hostile radar systems.
Eurofighter also referred to an unnamed “core customer” that will receive additional capabilities through the AMK variant. These include the integration of cutting-edge air-to-ground weapons, air-to-air missiles, and the latest generation of standoff munitions. While not explicitly confirmed, this is widely interpreted as a reference to Germany, which as part of its planned Tranche 5 procurement intends to introduce the Taurus NEO—an advanced evolution of the Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile currently under development.
At its core, the AMK is about reshaping the Typhoon’s aerodynamic behaviour to unlock greater performance at the edges of the flight envelope. The kit includes extensions and modifications to several key airframe components: fuselage strakes, flaperons, and the leading-edge root.
Specifically, the fuselage strakes are reshaped from a rectangular to a triangular configuration, while new leading-edge root extensions (LERX) connect the wing’s leading edge closer to the fuselage and the sides of the engine inlets. Larger flaperons complete the package. These changes are designed to manage airflow more effectively, delaying flow separation and maintaining control at high angles of attack.
According to Eurofighter, these modifications result in a “noticeable increase in maximum wing lift,” delivering enhanced target acquisition and improved close-quarters combat capability. The goal of the original EFEM programme was to increase maximum wing lift by approximately 25 per cent, translating directly into higher turn rates, a tighter turning radius, and superior nose-pointing ability at low speeds—critical attributes in within-visual-range air combat.
Flight testing during the 2015 campaign validated these ambitions. Test pilots recorded angle-of-attack values up to 45 per cent higher than those achievable by the standard Typhoon, along with roll rates up to 100 per cent greater. The AMK also enabled an increase in maximum take-off weight by several hundred kilograms, providing additional flexibility for fuel and weapons carriage.
“This program has been a tremendous success with very impressive results—in some areas even better than we expected,” said Eurofighter test pilot Raffaele Beltrame at the time. “We saw angle of attack values around 45 per cent greater than on the standard aircraft, and roll rates up to 100 per cent higher, all leading to increased agility. The handling qualities appeared to be markedly improved, providing more manoeuvrability, agility and precision while performing tasks representative of in-service operations.”
The revival of the AMK aligns closely with Germany’s broader commitment to the Eurofighter programme. At the opening of the ILA Berlin Air Show in 2024, then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would place an order for Eurofighter Tranche 5 aircraft by the end of 2025, in addition to the 38 jets already ordered under Project Quadriga.
Scholz framed the decision as part of Germany’s effort to maintain and expand arms production capacity while reinforcing its commitments to NATO. “This new order is further proof of the Eurofighter’s importance to the German Air Force and the strategic role it plays in our country’s air defence and NATO capabilities,” said Mike Schoellhorn, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Defence and Space.
According to Airbus, the Tranche 5 aircraft will be equipped with the latest sensors and avionics, including the new E-Scan radar—also known as the European Common Radar System (ECRS) Mk 1. This active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar significantly enhances detection range, tracking capacity, and resistance to electronic countermeasures compared to mechanically scanned predecessors.
In parallel, Airbus plans to integrate new electronic warfare capabilities by installing the Saab Arexis sensor suite on both newly built and existing aircraft. Although not always explicitly labelled as such, this modification forms a central part of the Eurofighter EK electronic combat configuration.
The AMK is just one element of the wider Phase 4 Enhancement package, which represents a substantial leap in the Typhoon’s digital and cognitive capabilities. Announced last year, P4E includes automated sensor management across all Typhoon radars, enabling the aircraft to conduct multiple simultaneous tasks—such as air-to-air surveillance, air-to-ground mapping, and electronic attack—while reducing pilot workload.
Other elements of P4E include an improved cockpit interface and enhanced Radio Frequency Interoperability (RFIO), both aimed at improving survivability and lethality in high-threat environments. While the development of a Large Area Display (LAD) for the Typhoon has been confirmed, it remains unclear whether this feature will be included in the initial P4E cockpit upgrade.
Collectively, these enhancements are intended to ensure that the Eurofighter remains not only relevant but competitive against advanced adversaries, even as fifth- and sixth-generation platforms enter service.
With these upgrades, Germany plans to keep the Eurofighter in operational service until at least the 2060s. The German Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Tranche 5 Eurofighters will gradually assume the electronic combat and reconnaissance roles currently performed by the aging Tornado ECR fleet.
This transition is particularly important in the context of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a next-generation air combat ecosystem being jointly developed by Germany, France, and Spain. Scheduled to achieve initial operational capability around 2040, FCAS will combine a crewed next-generation fighter with a family of uncrewed systems, networked sensors, and advanced command-and-control architecture.
Within this ecosystem, the Eurofighter is expected to serve as a critical operational bridge, operating alongside both current and future crewed and uncrewed platforms. “The continued evolution of the Eurofighter serves as an essential technological and operational bridge to a Future Combat Air System (FCAS), ensuring a seamless transition to the next generation of air power,” Schoellhorn said. “With these additional Eurofighters, Germany strengthens its ability to conduct surveillance of its airspace and secure NATO’s skies, supporting Germany in its role as a reliable partner for collective security.”
In addition to Tranche 5 procurement, Germany has approved continued work on the Eurofighter EK, a dedicated SEAD variant intended to replace the Tornado ECR. The project was initially green-lighted by the German government in 2023, building on Airbus’s earlier announcement of the Eurofighter ECR concept in 2019.
Under current plans, Airbus will equip 15 German Eurofighters for electronic combat, with NATO certification targeted by 2030. Once operational, these aircraft will take over Germany’s SEAD mission, a critical capability within NATO’s integrated air operations.
The Eurofighter EK will combine the AGM-88E AARGM with the Saab Arexis electronic warfare suite and a range of other technologies developed by small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as start-ups. Among the most notable innovations is an artificial intelligence-based solution capable of analysing radar data onboard and rapidly determining optimal self-protection measures, significantly reducing response times in complex threat environments.
The decision to revive and operationalise the Aerodynamic Modification Kit underscores the adaptability of the Eurofighter design and the determination of partner nations to extract maximum value from the platform. By pairing proven aerodynamic enhancements with cutting-edge sensors, weapons, and digital capabilities, the Typhoon is being reshaped into a highly agile, networked combat aircraft suited to both current and future conflicts.
As Europe confronts an increasingly volatile security environment and seeks to strengthen its strategic autonomy within NATO, the renewed AMK programme represents more than a technical upgrade. It is a statement of intent: that the Eurofighter Typhoon will remain a central pillar of European air power for decades to come.
