Unveiling the Future: Eurofighter Typhoon’s Next-Gen Electronic Warfare System, No Airframe Upgrades Needed!

The EuroDASS alliance, the industrial collaboration overseeing the Eurofighter Typhoon’s ‘Praetorian’ defensive framework, has revealed insights into the forthcoming generation of Typhoon sensing and jamming functionalities following the conclusion of conceptualization work and technology flight evaluations. EuroDASS collaborators Leonardo, ELT Group, Indra, and Hensoldt, leveraging Europe’s sovereign electronic warfare acumen, are partnering with systems integrator BAE Systems to advance the system in support of its Typhoon Next Generation initiative.

The next-generation electronic warfare framework will future-proof the Typhoon against emerging and evolving threats through to 2060 and beyond, enhancing situational awareness and boosting survivability.

Key attributes will feature sophisticated complex threat characterization, Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) capabilities, and the inclusion of interfaces for an external, high-powered electronic assault pod for Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) missions; a vital NATO requirement. Wideband Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Electronic Counter-Measures (ECM) will be delivered with amplified power for self-defense.

This innovative system will serve as a form-fit retrofit option for Typhoon’s operational Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS), named Praetorian after the elite Roman escort services. It will not alter the outer mold line of Typhoon and will impose no limitations on the existing flight envelope. This minimizes aircraft clearance and assures seamless integration for newly built aircraft as well as retro-fitting to current platforms. Typhoon will be more capable, more survivable, and more available, fulfilling the operational demands of air forces throughout Europe and the Middle East for decades ahead.

The EuroDASS consortium has already accomplished significant development on the next-generation system, encompassing the ‘Praetorian eVolution’ conceptual phase and flight assessments of component parts of the new capability.

Following the finalization of concepts, tests in 2023 witnessed digital receiver and band extension technologies deployed on a test aircraft. Subsequently, in 2024, successful flight evaluations onboard a Eurofighter Typhoon were conducted. Beyond maturing capabilities, the partners gathered extensive data on typical threat scenarios to assist further advancements.

As threats to combat aircraft are anticipated to swiftly develop in the upcoming decades, the Typhoon’s innovative defensive capabilities are being crafted with a data-centric architecture at its foundation.

This comprises the provision of rapid, high-bandwidth infrastructure to relay raw signal data to a sophisticated central processing unit. This will empower pilots to detect and prioritize multiple intricate threats simultaneously, and at extended ranges. Cognitive Electronic Warfare (CEW), utilizing AI and machine learning, will harness the high-fidelity data captured, adapting to emerging threats as they arise.

The in-service Praetorian system has shielded the aircraft for over 30 years from threats such as Infra-Red (IR/heat-seeking) and radar-guided missiles. Under the ongoing Eurofighter four-nation Phase 4 Enhancement (P4E) package, this system is undergoing upgrades to maximize its integration with Typhoon’s AESA radar solutions, including the operational European Common Radar System (ECRS).