Britain hedges, Germany commits on Eurofighter Tranche 3 acquisition
11 Jun 2009
London/Berlin: UK ministry of defence sources are letting it be known that Britain is unlikely to purchase all of the remaining 48 Tranche 3 Eurofighter Typhoon jets it is committed to pick up. After months of humming and hawing, UK committed itself to the contract last month with the rider that the final number of aircraft it would buy would be negotiated.
There was some good news for the Eurofighter consortium with Germany's ministry of defence confirming that it intended to pick up its full quota of 180 Eurofighters.
"The contract for the RAF's Tranche 3 Typhoon aircraft will be signed once there is a satisfactory conclusion to the ongoing negotiations," a spokesperson from the UK ministry of defence (MoD) said.
"Subject to the satisfactory outcome of these negotiations, it is hoped the MoD will be in a position to sign a contract later this year."
The Eurofighter consortium was set up 25 years ago to evolve a futuristic design for European forces and involved the governments of Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain as its core partners. The consortium members committed themselves to purchasing more than 600 of the high-performance combat jets in order to make the programme financially viable.
Any member seeking to opt out of its commitment is liable to pay huge amounts of penalty.
UK's commitment to the American Lockheed Martin F-35 programme may be the cause of its gradual disenchantment with the Eurofighter for it will need to fund the purchase of the F-35 along with its earlier commitment to the Eurofighter. It is obviously finding the going tough trying to make ends meet. Neither of the aircraft comes cheap.
According to UK media reports, the MoD believes that the country did not need the full 48 jets to meet its defence requirements, as the Tranche 3 versions of the Eurofighter were capable of performing a wider range of roles.
The Eurofighter consortium consists of Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Finmeccanica and EADS for Germany and Spain.