BAE cuts Eurofighter price by 10% to clinch Saudi deal

Published: May 28, 2006
Source: www.thebusinessonline.com



BAE SYSTEMS has been forced to slash the price of its Eurofighter Typhoon Jets by up to 10% to clinch a 5.4bn pounds (E7.8bn, $10bn) contract with the Royal Saudi Airforce.

Western diplomatic sources have told The Business that BAE Systems, part of the four-nation European consortium building the aircraft, will be awarded part of a further contract worth £2.8bn to secure Saudi’s border as a trade-off for the discount.

It had been widely expected the number of Eurofighter jets could involve “up to 72 aircraft”, but diplomatic sources have also told The Business the deal has been recently fixed at the 72 figure.

Des Browne, the new UK defence secretary, will travel to Riyadh within the next five weeks to sign a further overarching inter-governmental agreement on the Typhoon Acquisition Project with Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the Saudi defence minister and crown prince.

In a coup for the British government, western diplomatic sources also confirmed the deal involved more than aircraft.continue..