Report: Britain, Italy May Slash Eurofighter Orders

SUBMAN1 · 12-14-07, 02:00 PM

Let me guess, they plan to buy more F-35's instead.

-S

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3239826&C=europe

Report: Britain, Italy May Slash Eurofighter Orders
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, FRANKFURT

Britain and Italy are considering cutting orders of the Eurofighter combat jet that both countries helped develop, a press report said Dec. 10.

"These countries have asked for information that indicates a reduction in the number" of orders, the president of the Eurofighter consortium, Aloysius Rauen told the German business daily Handelsblatt.

Partners in the consortium divided work on the plane in 1998, according to the number of aircraft each country planned to buy, with a total of 620 orders booked in three stages through 2017.

The last stage of 236 planes is now subject to "massive haggling," according to Rauen.

Britain reportedly wants to reduce its commitment to buy 88 planes by half, and Italy also wants fewer than the 46 jets it was to buy.

In the 1990s, Germany cut from 250 to 180 the number of Eurofighters it planned to purchase, after receiving 30 percent of the work, compared with 37 percent for Britain, which had only 232 planes on order at the time.

A reduction by Britain and Italy now would reshuffle the amount of work awarded to each member of the consortium, and also lead to compensation payments.

The Eurofighter is a multipurpose combat jet of which 72 copies have also been ordered by Saudi Arabia in a deal worth 20 billion pounds (41 billion dollars).

It was developed by a European consortium composed of the aerospace group EADS, BAE Systems of Britain and the Italian group Alenia/Finmeccanica.

12-14-07, 02:00 PM	#1
SUBMAN1 Rear Admiral Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 11,866 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Report: Britain, Italy May Slash Eurofighter Orders Let me guess, they plan to buy more F-35's instead. -S http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3239826&C=europe Report: Britain, Italy May Slash Eurofighter Orders AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, FRANKFURT Britain and Italy are considering cutting orders of the Eurofighter combat jet that both countries helped develop, a press report said Dec. 10. "These countries have asked for information that indicates a reduction in the number" of orders, the president of the Eurofighter consortium, Aloysius Rauen told the German business daily Handelsblatt. Partners in the consortium divided work on the plane in 1998, according to the number of aircraft each country planned to buy, with a total of 620 orders booked in three stages through 2017. The last stage of 236 planes is now subject to "massive haggling," according to Rauen. Britain reportedly wants to reduce its commitment to buy 88 planes by half, and Italy also wants fewer than the 46 jets it was to buy. In the 1990s, Germany cut from 250 to 180 the number of Eurofighters it planned to purchase, after receiving 30 percent of the work, compared with 37 percent for Britain, which had only 232 planes on order at the time. A reduction by Britain and Italy now would reshuffle the amount of work awarded to each member of the consortium, and also lead to compensation payments. The Eurofighter is a multipurpose combat jet of which 72 copies have also been ordered by Saudi Arabia in a deal worth 20 billion pounds (41 billion dollars). It was developed by a European consortium composed of the aerospace group EADS, BAE Systems of Britain and the Italian group Alenia/Finmeccanica. __________________