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British Aerospace EAP
The British Aerospace EAP (standing for Experimental Aircraft Programme) is a British technology demonstrator aircraft developed by aviation company British Aerospace (BAe) as a private venture. It was designed to research technologies to be used for a future European combat aircraft, and for the multinational Eurofighter Typhoon.
The EAP has its roots within the earlier Agile Combat Aircraft (ACA), a collaborative initiative studying advanced technologies to produce more capable fighter aircraft. Upon the announcement of the EAP during October 1983, it was intended to be a multinational European effort; however, neither West Germany nor Italy would ultimately contribute financially, thus the programme relied upon a combination of British public and British and European private funding instead. Having been manufactured in sections across multiple facilities, the sole EAP aircraft (serial ZF534) was rolled out during April 1986. Performing its maiden flight on 8 August 1986, the EAP would fly over 250 sorties prior to its grounding on 1 May 1991, by which point the aircraft had fulfilled its intended purpose as a development aid.
The British House of Commons Accounts Committee credited the EAP with reducing the development of the Eurofighter by a year for a saving of £850 million.
During the second half of 1991, the Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering department of Loughborough University received the EAP aircraft, where it was used as a static instructional aid in the teaching of Aeronautical Engineering students for many years. In early 2012, in response to a request from the Royal Air Force (RAF), the EAP was transported to the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford; it has since been reassembled and put on public display in the museum's collection.
The origins of the EAP can be found within the Agile Combat Aircraft (ACA) programme performed by British Aerospace (BAe) during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is known that ACA had involved the combining of several years of private venture research conducted by BAe, costed at around £25 million, together with similar contemporary studies that had been performed by West German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) (such as the TKF-90 project) and Italian aviation company Aeritalia. Seeking to develop a new generation of fighter aircraft to equip the various air forces of Western Europe, the three companies had recognised the benefits of cooperation and the sharing of critical technologies to achieve this goal. Technologies which became central to the ACA included full-authority digital fly-by-wire controls, which would enable a significantly aerodynamically unstable aircraft to be flown, and multiple advanced manufacturing processes.
During the early 1980s, it was recognised that, due to the high extent of cutting-edge technologies involved, a reasonable risk reduction measure ahead of launching a full-scale production programme would be the completion of several technology demonstrator aircraft. During the 1982 Farnborough Airshow, a mockup of the ACA was publicly exhibited; this mockup also appeared at the Paris Air Show in May 1983. It was at the 1983 Paris Air Show that the official launch of the Experimental Aircraft Programme (EAP), under which a pair of technology demonstrators would be manufactured and flown, was announced. At the programme's launch, it was intended for the EAP to be a partnership between Britain and several of its European neighbours, including West Germany and Italy.
The initial project definition of what became the Eurofighter Typhoon commenced shortly after the EAP project was initiated. While the similarity between the EAP and the Eurofighter Typhoon is striking, there are numerous important design differences; the cranked delta wings of the EAP have been replaced with a straight delta, while the size of the fin has been much reduced and the rectangular air intake of the prototype has been replaced with one with a "smiling" configuration.[citation needed]
The EAP was intended to be financed by multiple countries. Early on, the British Government announced that it would make a financial contribution to the EAP; however, funding would not prove to be forthcoming from the West German government, which heavily contributed to the decision to cancel the planned second airframe prior to major work commencing. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) reportedly invested almost £80m into the EAP. The initiative became exclusively funded by the UK, from both the public and the private sector, the latter in the form of the aviation industry itself. Following German government instructions to withdraw support, MBB withdrew but other German companies stayed in.
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British Aerospace EAP
The British Aerospace EAP (standing for Experimental Aircraft Programme) is a British technology demonstrator aircraft developed by aviation company British Aerospace (BAe) as a private venture. It was designed to research technologies to be used for a future European combat aircraft, and for the multinational Eurofighter Typhoon.
The EAP has its roots within the earlier Agile Combat Aircraft (ACA), a collaborative initiative studying advanced technologies to produce more capable fighter aircraft. Upon the announcement of the EAP during October 1983, it was intended to be a multinational European effort; however, neither West Germany nor Italy would ultimately contribute financially, thus the programme relied upon a combination of British public and British and European private funding instead. Having been manufactured in sections across multiple facilities, the sole EAP aircraft (serial ZF534) was rolled out during April 1986. Performing its maiden flight on 8 August 1986, the EAP would fly over 250 sorties prior to its grounding on 1 May 1991, by which point the aircraft had fulfilled its intended purpose as a development aid.
The British House of Commons Accounts Committee credited the EAP with reducing the development of the Eurofighter by a year for a saving of £850 million.
During the second half of 1991, the Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering department of Loughborough University received the EAP aircraft, where it was used as a static instructional aid in the teaching of Aeronautical Engineering students for many years. In early 2012, in response to a request from the Royal Air Force (RAF), the EAP was transported to the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford; it has since been reassembled and put on public display in the museum's collection.
The origins of the EAP can be found within the Agile Combat Aircraft (ACA) programme performed by British Aerospace (BAe) during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is known that ACA had involved the combining of several years of private venture research conducted by BAe, costed at around £25 million, together with similar contemporary studies that had been performed by West German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) (such as the TKF-90 project) and Italian aviation company Aeritalia. Seeking to develop a new generation of fighter aircraft to equip the various air forces of Western Europe, the three companies had recognised the benefits of cooperation and the sharing of critical technologies to achieve this goal. Technologies which became central to the ACA included full-authority digital fly-by-wire controls, which would enable a significantly aerodynamically unstable aircraft to be flown, and multiple advanced manufacturing processes.
During the early 1980s, it was recognised that, due to the high extent of cutting-edge technologies involved, a reasonable risk reduction measure ahead of launching a full-scale production programme would be the completion of several technology demonstrator aircraft. During the 1982 Farnborough Airshow, a mockup of the ACA was publicly exhibited; this mockup also appeared at the Paris Air Show in May 1983. It was at the 1983 Paris Air Show that the official launch of the Experimental Aircraft Programme (EAP), under which a pair of technology demonstrators would be manufactured and flown, was announced. At the programme's launch, it was intended for the EAP to be a partnership between Britain and several of its European neighbours, including West Germany and Italy.
The initial project definition of what became the Eurofighter Typhoon commenced shortly after the EAP project was initiated. While the similarity between the EAP and the Eurofighter Typhoon is striking, there are numerous important design differences; the cranked delta wings of the EAP have been replaced with a straight delta, while the size of the fin has been much reduced and the rectangular air intake of the prototype has been replaced with one with a "smiling" configuration.[citation needed]
The EAP was intended to be financed by multiple countries. Early on, the British Government announced that it would make a financial contribution to the EAP; however, funding would not prove to be forthcoming from the West German government, which heavily contributed to the decision to cancel the planned second airframe prior to major work commencing. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) reportedly invested almost £80m into the EAP. The initiative became exclusively funded by the UK, from both the public and the private sector, the latter in the form of the aviation industry itself. Following German government instructions to withdraw support, MBB withdrew but other German companies stayed in.
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