August 18, 200619 yr From DefenceTalk.com Military Aviation Saudi says signs deal to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets By Reuters URL of this article: http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/pr...yphoon_jets.php Fri, 18 Aug 2006, 00:35 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Britain signed an agreement on Thursday for the Gulf state's purchase of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft in a deal analysts have said could be worth more than 6 billion pounds ($11.4 billion). A Saudi defense ministry statement, carried by the official SPA news agency, said "the agreement was signed ... for the purchase of 72 Typhoon aircraft." The brief statement, which did not give the value of the deal, said it also included a defense technology transfer. Sources close to the negotiations had said a deal signed in December was believed to have an option of up to 72 aircraft. The purchase is being carried out to replace British-made Tornados and other jets with the Typhoons. The multinational Eurofighter consortium that makes Typhoon jets includes British defense contractor BAE Systems Plc, European aerospace group EADS and Italy's Finmeccanica. BAE is expected to invest in local training for thousands of Saudi nationals. Saudi Arabia has a long history of buying arms from Britain dating back to the 1960s, and usually pays in oil.
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