Overview

• On June 15 at the Aire25 festival in Murcia, a Eurofighter Typhoon struck a seagull at about 600 mph, shattering its cockpit canopy during aerobatic maneuvers
• The pilot landed safely and emerged uninjured, illustrating the aircraft’s design resilience against high-speed bird strikes
• Initial inspection has led to a six-figure estimate for replacing the damaged windshield, grounding the £73 million fighter for maintenance
• The episode has renewed scrutiny of airshow risk management and wildlife-strike mitigation protocols in military aviation
• International Civil Aviation Organization data show over 270,000 bird-strike incidents between 2016 and 2021, with windshield impacts making up 20% of fixed-wing cases