Andy Flynn, BAE Systems Delivery Director says: "During the programme we were test flying Brimstones, Meteors and Storm Shadows simultaneously. No one nation would be able to do that by itself and certainly not in the challenging timescales we were working to.

ANDY FLYNN

"A perfect example of just how good this Eurofighter consortium collaboration is, occurred when the programme hit an issue. We were flying Storm Shadow with the Italian team when suddenly the range was closed. We quickly rescheduled everything, and the Italian test aircraft came over to the Stornoway range in Scotland, supported by a team from the UK. The team arrived in the UK on the Friday and on Saturday they were up on the range and delivering against a key milestone."

There was also a similar approach with the Spanish team with Meteor says Andy.

"They came over to the UK and delivered a number of test flights and firings on their jet. Airbus Germany were really important, too, on flight control systems. They delivered months ahead of time. We all understood the contracts, but we delivered against the timelines, and did a workshare swap to make sure we hit deadlines.

When you take a step back, Centurion has done a few things. It’s shown that we can do things differently, work within timelines and build collaborations to deliver against a need.

"But what it’s also done is prove the model of Eurofighter collaboration. This could not have happened without Eurofighter. We’ve just done something which feels very special. Yes, it was about hitting timelines for a UK need, but it was delivered internationally. And, it should be remembered that the capability is going to go to other nations as well."