Unfairly Maligning The Eurofighter

There's a lot of discussion over British equipment in Afghanistan and a lot of criticism of the Eurofighter Typhoon, with critics describing it as an "interceptor" and a "Cold War relic".

Yet again, people don't bother to check their facts.

1. The Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 Typhoons are capable of doing air-to-ground operations just as well as the Tornado GR.4.
2. The Eurofighter is a Cold War design, true. So is the A-10, F-16, F-15 and the Harrier.
3. We're not going to be fighting Taliban-style enemies (i.e. air defence borderline non-existent) for the next 50 years. At some point we will be against someone with fighter aircraft and decent SAMs. In fact, we did that only a decade ago.
   
4. The Eurofighter is a highly capable air-to-air fighter, perhaps second only to the F-22. It can also self-escort.
   
5. We're not buying the original 232 planned anyway.