Saudi Arabia to buy Eurofighters

Saudi-UK Military Jet Accord Soon

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia,

Dec. 21--Saudi Arabia expects to conclude a deal with Britain for military aircraft soon, the kingdom’s defense minister said in remarks published on Wednesday.
Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, in comments reported by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, would not disclose details, Reuters reported.
But he told reporters after talks with visiting British Defense Minister John Reid: “God willing, we hope to conclude in the near future a deal for modern planes with Britain.“ Sources close to the negotiations have said the deal was likely to involve Saudi Arabia buying at least 48 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, with an option to raise that to 72. The sources did not give a value for the potential deal.
A senior source close to the deal told Reuters an accord might be signed later in the day after Reid meets Saudi King Abdullah.
The Eurofighter consortium includes BAE Systems, EADS and Italy’s Finmeccanica.
Officials at BAE in Riyadh and London declined immediate comment.
A spokeswoman for Britain’s Ministry of Defense would say only that “negotiations are continuing.“
Saudi sources said the kingdom was also considering buying Rafale jets from France’s Dassault Aviation.








Eurofighter sold to Saudi Arabia

The Eurofighter has taken more than 20 years to design and build


Shares in BAE Systems have risen over 6% in value after the UK government agreed to supply Saudi Arabia with the new Eurofighter.


This is the first contract for the jet outside Europe and will safeguard thousands of UK jobs.

The Eurofighter has been developed by a consortium of firms in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy.

It is competing for market share against two rival jets, the US Joint Strike Fighter and the French Rafael.

The Royal Saudi Armed Forces are on a mission to modernise, which will see the Eurofighter Typhoon replace the Tornado in the Royal Saudi Air Force.

BAE has provided Tornado planes to Saudi Arabia since 1985.

Confidential deal

Both BAE and the Ministry of Defence were keeping mum about the precise number of Eurofighters that would be sold to Saudi Arabia but the deal is rumoured to be worth more than £6bn ($10.6bn).

"The specific details of these arrangements are governed by the existing confidentiality agreement," the British embassy in Riyadh said.

Notably, the Saudi agreement is only the second export deal for Eurofighter - Austria previously bought 18 of the aircraft.

The countries behind the Eurofighter have ordered 620 of them.

The Eurofighter has its UK base at Warton, Lancashire, where BAE Systems employs 9,000 people in its aircraft division. These jobs will be safeguarded by the deal over the next 10 years, said UK defence secretary John Reid.

Shares in BAE Systems hit a three-year high on Wednesday, up 22.25 pence to 370p.


Jesus Christ, the Saudis are sure buying arms like crazy. I think they also signed a deal to buy 70 some Rafales from France a couple months ago as well. Above that they are upgrading their Tornadoes for several more billion dollars. That is a LOT of weaponry for any country.

crazyinsane105 said:

Jesus Christ, the Saudis are sure buying arms like crazy. I think they also signed a deal to buy 70 some Rafales from France a couple months ago as well. Above that they are upgrading their Tornadoes for several more billion dollars. That is a LOT of weaponry for any country.

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Back in late 1990's there were rumors that the Saudis were looking to replace their ~100 F-5 fleet with F-16C/D or Gripen's. It didn't happen and I guess they opted for Rafale's and Eurofighters.

The Saudi's were known to drag negotiations and look for "white knight" situations, where they'd place an order to "save" a production line from being shut down, and use it as leverage to get better equipment.

They fear Irans growing thirst for middle east dominance. Saddam woke them up in gulf war number 1 on how vulnerable their kingdom and its wealth really is.

saudi want to balance iran increasing military power n also israel.saudi is among the richest country in the region.so there will be no problem to buying in high price in getting latest tech hardware.this will be good deterrent action to any future conflict

Iran is going to become a nuclear power soon so unless Saudi Arabia starts a nuke program, Iran may well become the dominant force in the Middle East.

This deal has been long in the making and continues the close ties between the British govt. and the Saudis and is a much needed impetus to the EF program--finally an export customer that matters (Austria just doesn"t carry as much weight). I am happy for the EF consortium, they have a solid product and finally signed someone up for it.

Someone here mentioned the Saudis signed a deal for 70 Rafaels--this is news to me. I follow the aviation industry (civil and military) very closely and would have come across this if it were true. When the french lost the Singapore and Korean competitions to the F-15 the word was still that the Rafael has yet to find an international customer. Perhaps it is true that Suadi Arabia has signed an order but it has not yet been made public? At any rate, I would appreciate a link to a source confirming it.

Here is an article about the Rafales:

S. Arabia to buy French aircraft

By Our Correspondent
RIYADH, April 15: Saudi Arabia has signed a memorandum of understanding with France to buy 48 Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation with an option for a further 48, French business daily Les Echos reported on Friday.

The deal for the multi-role fighters, estimated to be worth up to six billion euros ($7.72 billion), could be finalized by the end of the year, the newspaper said. If the deal gets through, it could have implications for British Aerospace, which has a running contract with the Saudi defence forces.

Although no official confirmation of the MoU was available, it was reportedly reached during a two-day visit to France by the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz. Combat and corporate aircraft maker Dassault Aviation could not immediately be reached for comment. The Elysee presidential palace would not comment.

Quoting Jean-Francois Bureau, the spokesman for France's defence ministry, news agency Reuters quoted him as saying: "It's a discussion process that started a long time ago. I do not have the impression that we are in a final phase and if it was the case it would be up to the Saudi authorities to announce it."


Yeah, then the Saudis probably didn't buy it.

i dont like selling weapons to a regime like saudi arabia but i expect the UK to downsize their ef orders now

ger_mark said:

i dont like selling weapons to a regime like saudi arabia but i expect the UK to downsize their ef orders now

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It's not about liking a country. It's all about making money and the nations in the Typhoon program are going to make quite a bit of it. If right now the US granted permission to Lockheed Martin to sell to China, Locheed wouldn't think twice and start to sell. In my opinion, the Saudis should try to invest that money into schools and into other social infranstructures that can actually benefit the local populace in their country, but this is life and life isn't perfect.

like i said before saudi is the richest country in the region n there no reason for brit to downsize the order.if thats happen saudi will go rafale
that order saveguard a lot of job.
with the money also the brit can do R n D to produce more effective version of
eurofighter.
the brit had sold tornado to saudi n there is any problem