Beginning in late 1983, the air staffs of five European nations -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain -- began to work together to define specifications for a common fourth-generation fighter aircraft, to go into service in the mid-1990s. By early 1985, Britain, West Germany, Italy, and Spain had settled on a design along the lines of the EAP demonstrator

https://web.archive.org/web/20060925134 ... veuro.html

EAP выглядит очень похожим на final Eurofighter, примерно так же или даже больше, чем T10 сделал с Су-27

Mr.T
Всё верно, EAP был создан в 1983 на основе опыта MBB. Доступ к этим наработкам BAe получила в 1979 году.

Эволюцию идей англичан можно проследить по их проектам.

1977 BAe P96

1978 BAe P96F и P103

1980 BAe P106B

1981 BAe P110

Только в 1982 появляется макет BAe ACA, который уже похож на EAP.

это выглядит так, как будто немцы не участвовали в ACA, а EAP не финансировался, поэтому я бы все равно поставил BLUE в качестве основного участника проекта, поскольку неучастие германии даже сделало его единственным хвостовым оперением, что значительно изменило конфигурацию MBB concepts.

* MBB wanted to go ahead with the second demonstrator, but the West German government had no interest in funding it. They didn't want to antagonize the French by throwing their lot in with the British and Italians; similarly did not want to antagonize the British and Italians by throwing in with the French; and accordingly decided that doing nothing was the best option for the moment. That effectively killed the ACA program as such, but BAE courageously went ahead with the construction of their EAP demonstrator. The demonstrator was built with help from Aeritalia and some low-key assistance from MBB, which was still interested in the project even if the West German government wasn't keen on it.

As it emerged, the EAP demonstrator featured the cranked-delta / canard configuration of the various concepts that led up to it, but differed from them in having a single tailfin instead of twin tailfins. This was because MBB had been expected to provide the rear fuselage elements of the EAP, but when their funding was cut BAE simply used the rear section of a Tornado, including the tailfin. The EAP also used the Tornado's twin TurboUnion RB.199 afterburning turbofan engines. The intakes were placed under the belly, and had a hinged panel on the lower lip that could be dropped open to ensure airflow at high angles of attack.