Blow for Britain and BAE Systems as UAE Rules Out Eurofighter Deal

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain fails to seal multi-billion pound deal to sell 60 Eurofighter Typhoon jet fighters to the United Arab Emirates

Defence group BAE's hopes of exporting its Typhoon fighter have been dealt a blow after the United Arab Emirates ended negotiations about buying the jet.

The Gulf nation had been in talks over a multi-billion pound deal to buy 60 of the twin-engine supersonic fighters as it looks to upgrade its air force.

"The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time," Britain's biggest defence company said in a statement as the market closed on Thursday.

BAE and the British government had been in discussion with the UAE "regarding a range of defence and security capabilities including the potential supply of Typhoon aircraft".

"We put a world-class proposal on the table but the UAE has elected not to proceed at this time," a spokesman for the company said. » | Alan Tovey | Thursday, December 19, 2013

Britain to Sell ‘Friends’ 72 Eurofighters
BBC: Saudi Arabia is to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets BAE Systems, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

The deal is worth about £4.4bn - excluding charges for maintainance of the aircraft and training.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped a probe last year into a sale of jets to the Saudis in the 1980s.

The UK government said this was on national security grounds, but reports said the Saudis had threatened to pull out if the probe went ahead.

Blackmail claim

The official Saudi news agency SPA says that the price paid per aircraft is the same that Britain's Royal Air Force pays for the aircraft.

UK-based BAE Systems said it welcomed "this important milestone in its strategy to continue to develop Saudi Arabia as a key home market with substantial employment and investment in future in-Kingdom industrial capability".

Critics attacked the decision to drop the SFO investigation, saying the government had put commercial interest before ethics and had given in to Saudi blackmail.

In addition to the price paid for the planes, there is also expected to be a lucrative deal for the munitions that go with them. Saudis buy Eurofighters from UK (more) »

Mark Alexander