Everything You Wanted to Know About the Eurofighter Typhoon Just over 550 Typhoon fighters have been built, with around 100 more projected to enter service in the future. Here's What You Need To Remember: The Eurofighter Typhoon has been around for decades - and is still one of the best fighters in the sky. Its designers opted for forego stealth for speed and maneuverability, and the Typhoon has plenty of each. One of the European community’s most successful joint defense projects, the Eurofighter Typhoon has distinguished itself as a versatile and exceptionally agile fighter over its two decades of service. In the early 1970s, several Western European states perceived the need for a new fighter platform to phase out their aging, largely U.S.-made stock of fighters that included the F-4 Phantom. With the 1970s Panavia Tornado capably filling a strike role, the European community coalesced around an air superiority fighter project.