Test pilots at QinetiQ, the ministry's independent technological research and evaluation arm, spent eight months sizing up the highly sophisticated warplane, 232 of which are to go into service with the Royal Air Force.

But in an April 30 report, the Evening Standard said, they found three problems in what is supposed to be a single-seat, all-weather, multi-purpose fighter:

-- A computer system to alert the pilot when the aircraft is going too slow is inadequate. Until a better system is finalised, the report said, two pilots should be on board whenever "dynamic manoeuvres" are performed.

-- The cockpit flight information displays "frequently fail in flight", and therefore, whenever a Eurofighter is taken into cloud or bad weather, it should again be with two pilots.

-- "Corruption" of the flight control computer system means that it could suddenly switch from "in-flight" mode to "ground" mode in mid-air, leading to "immediately catastrophic" results.

"I would not be happy if the aircraft entered service without the failures having been investigated and understood," the Evening Standard quoted a Ministry of Defence spokesman as saying.

Nevertheless, the London newspaper said, assistant chief of air staff Air Vice Marshall David Walker has approved the Eurofighter's release to service on May 13.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-role combat jet with a range of 2,500 kilometres (1,560 miles) and can be equipped with a mix of missiles depending on its mission.

It is built by a four-nation consortium involving the French-Spanish-German group EADS, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Alenia, but is four years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) over budget.

Besides Britain, Italy has ordered 121 Eurofighters and Spain 87. Last year Austria became the first nation outside the consortium to place an order, asking for 18. Greece has committed to 60 with an option for 30 more.

Last month Germany officially put its first five Eurofighters into service in the northern city of Rostock. They will mainly be used for training.

Each Eurofighter costs about 80 million euros (96 million dollars).

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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