Limeys and Jerrys may reduce Typhoon orders

[umair]

(no offence intended towards Limeys or any Jerrys reading this!)

Britain, Germany could reduce order for Eurofighter: report


20/02/2004 at 20:44:15
Date line: HAMBURG, Germany, Feb 20 [AFP]

Britain and Germany could reduce the number of Eurofighter combat aircraft they have ordered, according to a report in an influential German weekly due to be published on Saturday.

Britain has ordered 232 Eurofighter jets but sources the magazine Der Spiegel refers to as "experts in the German lower house of parliament" have detected several indications that London may reduce that number.

A British defence ministry spokesman denied the claim: "Negotiations are continuing but we have signed a promise to purchase for 232 aircraft with our partners and we are committed to that," he said.

According to the sources cited by Der Spiegel, British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon has said he wants production to be slowed and has demanded that a plan to equip the jets with precision weapons be brought forward.

For his part German Defence Minister Peter Struck promised Hoon he would examine a request from London to "change the programme," the magazine cited its sources as saying.

Der Spiegel said Berlin could also reduce its order for 180 Eurofighters to 140 because of financial constraints, the weekly says.

Germany agreed last year to purchase 180 Eurofighters to be delivered between now and 2015 -- the most expensive arms deal in German armed forces history.

In all 620 aircraft have been ordered by Britain, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Austria has also decided to buy 18 of the jets.

The plane is being built by a consortium made up of British group BAe Systems, Italian group Alenia and the European aeronautical group EADS.




© 2004 AFP

 

[Red aRRow]

Does this have anything to do with the JSF?? I mean is the fact that the JSF gonna be available to the Europeans, effecting their bulk orders of the eurofighter??

BTW is the JSF better than the eurofighter?

thanks.

 

[Winter]

Does this have anything to do with the JSF?? I mean is the fact that the JSF gonna be available to the Europeans, effecting their bulk orders of the eurofighter??

BTW is the JSF better than the eurofighter?

thanks.

Though the JSF and the Eurofighter are both multi-purpose, the JSF is optimized for air-to-mud and I imagine the Typhoon is air-to-air. For the few (two or three) Euro nations acquiring both, I guess they intend these next-generation designs to complement each other.

 

[The Watcher]

I imagine the Typhoon is air-to-air

Correct the current phase of the plane is optimized for air-to-air capabilities but the coming phases such as Tranche-2 will increase and add air-to-ground capabilities to the jet. That will truely make it multi-purpose!