The German Air Force has claimed a new distance record for the Eurofighter jet, covering 8,600 kilometres between Japan and Hawaii in 10.31 hours, a military spokesman said on Friday. The flight, which included five mid-air refuelling operations, came ahead of joint RIMPAC military exercises in the Indo-Pacific. The fighter jets are not actually designed for long distance flights and are normally stationed within a rather narrow area of operation radius Some countries, such as the United States, have aircraft carriers to bring the jets as close as possible to the areas of operation. Germany, h…