Asked a few days ago about future sales of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Gaincarlo Mezzanatto, the CEO of the Eurofighter consortium, seemed particularly confident, announcing thatit expected to register up to 200 new devices ordered in the next two years.
This volume was therefore surprising. Indeed, apart from the Spanish Halcyon 2 contract, which will have to complete the replacement of the F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8B Harrier II currently in service, and which will probably be split between a fleet of F-35A/Bs of On the other hand, we are talking about 50 aircraft, and a fleet of Typhoon, probably 25, the only obvious prospect for the European fighter was based on a possible second batch of Typhoon intended to replace the Tornado of the Luftwaffe, knowing that orders for F-35A and Typhoon Tranche III already announced only covered 60 of the 90 devices to be replaced.
Indeed, in an article published today by German news site WirtschaftsWoche, the European consortium is said to be in advanced negotiations with Saudi Arabia for a new order for 72 aircraft, after a first order, again for 72 aircraft, announced in 2006 and fully executed in 2017.
It is true that in 2018, Riyadh had signed an MoU with London for the acquisition of 48 additional aircraft. However, at that time, Berlin had vetoed the sale of arms to the Saudi kingdom following the military intervention in Yemen and the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to the German site, Berlin would not have the intention of opposing the transaction this time, while London and Berlin would have engaged in “very active” talks to overcome the last obstacles in order to authorize the export of the hunters. to the Royal Saudi Air Force.
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from €1,99. Subscriptions Premium also allow access to archives (articles over two years old)
BLACK FRIDAY : – 20% on new monthly and annual Premium and Classic subscriptions, with the code MetaBF2024, until 03/12/24
[…] barring a reversal of the situation as unlikely as it is spectacular, we can expect that the ambitions displayed a few days ago by Gaincarlo Mezzanatto, the CEO of the Eurofig consortium… who estimated that he would record within 2 years at coming, around 200 device orders […]