AEROMEDIA
The Italian Aerospace Information Web
by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)

Contract for 72 Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia Signed

On December 5, 2007, Eurofighter GmbH and BAE Systems signed a contract to procure 72 Eurofighter 2000 fighters for Saudi Arabia. The agreement was signed directly between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with BAE Systems as prime contractor. Eurofighter GmbH (33% each BAE Systems and EADS Germany, 21% Alenia Aeronautica and 13% EADS Spain) will manage production and support activities on behalf of Saudi Arabia, through a specific contract with BAE Systems.
Including Austria, this is the second export sale for Eurofighter 2000. To date, the new fighter has received 707 firm orders: 15 from Austria, 180 from Germany, 121 from Italy, 72 from Saudi Arabia, 87 from Spain and 232 from United Kingdom.
To date 136 Eurofighter series aircraft have been delivered, including six Instrumented Production Aircraft (ISPA) operated by the industrial consortium companies on behalf of the respective air forces, as follows: 47 to the Royal Air Force, 37 to the Luftwaffe, 26 to the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, 18 to the Ejército del Aire of Spain and three to the Austrian Fliegerdivision. From the entry into service, at the beginning of 2004, thay have accomplished a total of some 28,000 flight hours. The protoypes and ISPAs, used fot test and development flights, have logged a total of some 5,500 hours.

In the picture: Eurofighter EF 2000 IS014 4-15/MM7282 of the Italian Air Force. (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, December 2007)