EAP Diffractive HUD PDU

Display Unit, HUD Set
Contract EDX 120200
Dsgn. Act K0656
PN 229-048856-01
Mfr K0656
NSN
Ser No. EFA002

The UK had identified a requirement for a new fighter as early as 1971. A specification, AST 403, was issued 1972. However, the simultaneous West German requirement for a new fighter had led by 1979 to the development of the TKF-90 concept. In 1979, (MBB) and (BAe) presented a formal proposal to their respective governments for the ECF, the European Collaborative Fighter. In 1982 the Agile Combat Aircraft (ACA) programme was launched. In1983 BAe announced a contract with the MoD for the development and production of an ACA demonstrator, the EAP Experimental Aircraft Programme.
In 1986 the BAe EAP was rolled out at Warton. Design work continued over the next five years using data from the EAP and the Eurofighter bears a strong resemblance to the EAP. The aircraft was known as Eurofighter EFA from the late 1980s until it was renamed EF 2000 in 1992.
The first flight of the Eurofighter prototype took place on 27 March 1994 and in 1998 the Typhoon name was formally adopted.
Marconi Avionics, in common with other suppliers, made equipment for the EFA at their own cost in anticipation of orders for the Typhoon.
The HUD is a standard production F-16 DHUD and it was supplied under contract FDX 120200. Another of these HUDs was, in 2012, still held in the stores at BAe Systems Warton. The production aircraft were fitted with the later CGH HUD.