Founded in 1986, Euro Fighter GmbH is a multinational company that co-ordinates the design, production and upgrade of the Euro Fighter Typhoon, a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole fighter. Four Euro Fighter Partner Companies (EPCs) have agreed development work shares:
BAE Systems (BAES - UK) 33%
Alenia Aeronautica (ALN - Italy) 21%
EADS Deutschland (Germany) 33%
EADS CASA (Spain) 13%
The project is managed by the NATO Euro Fighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA), which acts on behalf of the partner nations' Governments. The first flight was in 1994 and has been in service since 2003 with the Air Forces of Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, Royal Saudi Arabia and the UK.