EADS seeks to offset cancelled Eurofighter orders

Cassidian, the defence and security division of European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co (EADS), plans to suggest a compromise agreement to Germany's defence minister, Thomas de Maiziere, to compensate for lost warplane orders, a report in the Financial Times Deutschland said, citing sources from the industry.

The deal potentially could be worth billions of euros.

According to the report, Cassidian head, Stefan Zoller, will agree to relinquish damage claims from cancelled fighter-jet orders if in return the government should order the Talarion unmanned aerial vehicle and award EADS with modernization and maintenance contracts, the German newspaper said.

The German air force is now interested in picking up only 140 Eurofighters instead of 177, FTD said.

The UK and Italy also want to back out of orders for a total of 124 jets, a contract valued at about 9 billion euros ($12 billion), the newspaper reported.