(Luft) Eurofighter 2000

[Erich]

Rob, die Begeisterung in GB scheint sich in engen Grenzen zu halten
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£40bn Saudi fighter jet deal brings RAF shortage fears

IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent December 30 2005

SAUDI Arabia plans to buy more than 200 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the UK in a deal worth up to £40bn including spares, maintenance and training over the next 20 years, The Herald has learned.
....
RAF insiders fear that selling aircraft to offset the Ministry of Defence's contractual obligations to the Eurofighter consortium will not only reduce the number deployed in UK frontline squadrons, but will also produce a spares shortage when the Saudis are inevitably granted priority of supply.
Despite MoD denials, RAF Tornado jets were left unserviceable in the 1990s in similar circumstances as the Saudis bought more than 100 as a deterrent to Iraq and Iran and demanded first call on spares.

The RAF is committed to buying 232 Eurofighter jets in fighter and ground-attack versions, with the first squadron due to enter service next year.
Deliveries of the 55 tranche one Typhoons have begun, and the MoD has signed up for 89 more in tranche two. More than 600 of the fighters are in the pipeline for UK, German, Italian and Spanish air forces, who collaborated on the jets' development.
Although more than six years late and £2bn over budget, Typhoon is rated as being able to rival the best US and Russian-built fighter planes. Each RAF jet will cost £45m, in a package worth £19bn.
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