Italian Eurofighters shoot down Ukrainian drone off course in Latvia

Two Eurofighter F-2000s of the Air Force "Baltic Thunder III" Air Task Force, engaged in the NATO air defense mission on the eastern flank of the Alliance, took off on Friday 14 August in scramble (the immediate take-off procedure following an alert) after the violation of Latvian airspace by a drone.

The Italian crews intercepted the unmanned aircraft, proceeding with its shooting down according to the procedures established by the Alliance. The downed drone is believed to be Ukrainian, and ended up off course due to Russian electronic interference.

The Eurofighter F-2000 (known internationally as EF-2000 or Eurofighter Typhoon) is an advanced 4th generation (4.5G) multirole fighter, developed by a European consortium made up of Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. In Italy, the official designation of the Air Force is F-2000A (for the single-seat version) and TF-2000A (for the two-seat version).

The Eurofighter Typhoon has a wingspan of 14.74 m, a length of 15.96 m, a height of 5.28 m. The maximum take-off weight is 23,500 kg. As regards the propulsion system, it consists of two Eurojet EJ200 turbofans of 60kN dry and 90kN with afterburner. The maximum speed is 2,495 km/h; the maximum autonomy is 2,900 km. The crew consists of one or two pilots. Finally the armament: 1 Mauser cannon cal. 27 mm, up to 6,500 kg of external loads (AIM-9L Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, Iris-T, Meteor missiles; GBU series guided bombs; additional tanks and laser targeting pods).

Italy, as the Institute for International Affairs explains in a report on the Gcap, has purchased a total of 118 Eurofighters, including the new Tranche 4 variants, which will remain in service until the 1960s and will be interoperable with the Gcap.