During a military exercise in Germany, two Eurofighter Typhoon jets
collided in Northeastern Germany
causing the death of one of the pilots’
early afternoon on June 24.
When the collision occurred, a
third pilot from another fighter jet
witnessed both parachutes from the
collided fighter jets ejecting. One
of the pilots survived the collision,
and neither aircrafts was carrying
any weapons, according to the Luftwaffe (of the Bundeswehr, the German defense force). The body of the
other pilot was found eventually by
the local authorities. The pilot that
survived was more experienced, with
more flight hours than the pilot that
died.
Following the crash, there has been
calls to end the military exercise, due
to the low altitude that the fighter jets
flew on. Questions were raised on
whether such low-level flying exercises were necessary, especially near
a popular camping destination, as the
crash happened near a national park.
The exercises simulated dogfights
which involved many risky manoeuvres that the pilots conducted.
The two jets that collided were
part of the Tactical Air Force Wing
73 of the Luftwaffe and is a fighter
defense wing that flies the Typhoon.
The base is located at the RostockLaage Airport, in northeastern state
of Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania.
The wing was named after a WWII
fighter ace and a general in the Bundeswehr, Johannes Steinhoff.
This was one of the few military
units named after a member of the
Wehrmacht; Nazi Germany’s main
military arm during WW. Rommel and
Stauffenberg had barracks named after
them, but even their resistance against
Hitler was mixed in with half truths
and myths. Rommel was a supporter
of the Nazi ideology and had a very
loose connection with the July 20
bomb plot. Stauffenberg on the other
hand, was a supporter of Polish slave
labour to keep the German war machine going, despite being outspoken
against the crimes against humanity
that were conducted.
There has not been any detail about
the investigation of the mid-air collision at the time the article was published. There could be multiple factors in how the collision could have
happened. However, it was known
that the Bundeswehr had troubles with
combat vehicles, with less than half
being operational. This could
have impacted the amount of training
each pilot had.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multirole fighter introduced in 2003 and
has been used in various air forces
across Western Europe. It was a joint
project from different European aerospace companies, such as Airbus and
BAE systems.
Recently the jet has been a subject
of controversy within the Luftwaffe.
In 2015, there was a manufacturing
fault from improper hole drillings
with the Typhoon fighter jets, which
prompted the Bundeswehr paused the
delivery of the jets. In addition, the
flight hours of the individual fighter jets have been halved due to the
manufacturing error.
There could be multiple factors
that come into play in the collision,
but lessons from this can be used to
improve the state of the Bundeswehr
and prevent accidents like this from
happening again.