UK confirms deal to supply 72 Euro fighters to Saudi Arabia
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Aug 18, IRNA
UK-Arms-SArabia
The UK government confirmed Friday that it has agreed a deal reportedly worth up to Pnds 10 billion (Dlrs 19bn) to sell Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that it had signed an "understanding document" with the Saudi government "intended to establish a greater partnership in modernizing the Saudi Arabian armed forces."
"The required commercial principles have now been agreed which has initiated the purchase of Typhoon aircraft and the associated commitment to the industrial plan to be launched," the MoD said in a statement without giving any further details.
According to the Financial Times, the agreement, which is being handled through Britain's main defence manufacturer, BAE Systems, is worth Pnds 10 bn and will replace Saudi Arabia's existing fleet of Tornado aircraft also supplied by the UK.
The agreement comes 20 years after the UK first signed the Al Yamamah deal, accumulatively been worth over Pnds 40 bn, and will extend Britain's biggest-ever export deal for the next 25 years.
Defence Secretary Des Browne signed the latest deal, which will see Saudi Arabia acquire 72 Eurofighter jets, four weeks ago and his counterpart, Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, signed up in the last week, the Financial Times said.
The order for the Eurofighter, built jointly in Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, is the first outside Europe after the planes development has been hit by delays and costs going significantly over budget.
Work on the Typhoon, which is in competition with the US Joint Strike Fighter and the French Rafael, first started in the 1980s, but the first maiden flight did not take place until 1994.
2220/345/1420
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
