On July 12th, 2007, the Austrian Air Force entered the 4th Generation Jet Age.

After six weeks of poltical delays, these in turn born out of more than ten years of heated political debate, finally the first of the contracted 15 Eurofighter Typhoon Jets arrived at Zeltweg Air Force Base, being ferried by EADS Test Pilot Martin Angerer.

After the traditional aviation welcome using two water cannons, AS001 was officially handed over from Eurofighter GmbH (a part of EADS Military Air Systems) to the Austrian Armed Forces. While the last-Minute Reduction of 18 planned aircraft to only 15 by socialist Minister of Defense Norber Darabos certainly is regretable and of questionable value, the Eurofighter Typhoon is still a jet two generations newer than anything the Austrian Air Force had ever handled so far (it's former rideshaving been Saab J-35OE "Draken" and now Northrop F-5E "Tiger" on lease from Switzerland).

Expected readiness for QRA missions is in Juli 2008, a time at which the majority of the 15 aircrafts should be delivered already. I wish the Austrian Air Force the best of luck and I'm proud and happy for them to finally recive adequate equipment for their important job in service of the Austrian Republic.