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HOW IT’S COATED
Eurofighter Paint Jobs: Strip-on, Strip-off Martin Agüera,
Airbus Defence and Space
martin.aguera@airbus.com
Removing special livery and returning a Eurofighter to active duty in its regular grey paint-scheme can be quite a challenge – especially if you are doing it for the first time. The Airbus Defence and Space team at Eurofighter Kooperation Zelle in Manching made it happen anyway.
S
pecially painted fighter or transport
In late January 2021, the German Air Force
before,” said Peter Hadwiger, Head of EKZ at
aircraft are a familiar sight in many
(Luftwaffe) delivered Eurofighter 30+68
Airbus Defence and Space. “We had to think
air forces. For special occasions or
(GS0050) from its home base in Neuburg,
carefully about how to proceed and, of course,
dedicated units, such as the famous NATO
Bavaria to Manching for regular maintenance.
to ensure that we could perform all the other
Tigers, some aircraft are given a beautiful
At the time, that particular jet was carrying
activities we do when we overhaul a jet from
design for a certain period of time.
a special paint livery from 2016, when the
scratch to stay within the planned timeframe.”
In most cases today, jets receive a special film
Luftwaffe celebrated its 60 anniversary. As
The pure maintenance work on the one hand
that is comparatively easy to apply and to
part of the maintenance, the jet was also
and the removal of the paint on many parts
remove. In some cases, however, they receive
slated to have its special livery removed and
on the other hand required close coordination
a full-blown paint job.
returned to service in the regular grey paint
between the teams at EKZ.
While beautiful to look at, applying and
scheme.
Communication and coordination between
especially removing the paint is a tremendous
Sounds like a straightforward plan – only it
all of the departments involved turned out to
challenge. It’s a very real challenge that the
wasn’t.
be spot on, even if the overall effort cost “a lot
teams at the Eurofighter Kooperation Zelle, or
“We had a tremendous amount of respect
of nerves,” recalled Stefan Spiegl, Dockchief
EKZ, in Manching faced for the very first time
for that job since scraping the paint off a fully
Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul at Airbus
in 2021.
painted jet wasn’t something we had done
Defence and Space.
th
© Airbus
Rare sight above Manching: the Eurofighter’s “Frankenstein” version takes off for one of its check flights.
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N. 74 - MARCH/APRIL 2022 - international PAINT&COATING magazine