The £73M Eurofighter Brought to Its Knees by a Bird in Mid-Air Collision

The hidden vulnerability of even the most advanced fighter jets
Despite its reputation as one of the most advanced multirole combat aircraft in the world, the Eurofighter Typhoon—costing upwards of £73 million per unit—is not immune to the raw unpredictability of nature. Designed to evade radar, outmaneuver enemy aircraft, and withstand the punishing forces of aerial combat, its developers could hardly have imagined that one of its most direct threats during an airshow demonstration would be a common seagull. The vulnerability isn't mechanical but biological—birds do not respond to radar, nor do they follow flight safety protocols. And while the Typhoon’s avionics and structural resilience are state-of-the-art, bird strikes remain a hazard that’s nearly impossible to fully eliminate. This incident has reignited conversations about whether additional real-time wildlife radar systems or airspace sterilization tactics could be adopted more aggressively around airbases and showgrounds, particularly in coastal or migratory zones.