Saudi Arabia has signed an expanded military agreement with the UK government under which the kingdom intends to acquire at least 24 Eurofighter Typhoons to replace its current air force fleet of Panavia Tornado air defence variant (ADV) fighters. 
Contained within a so-called “understanding document”, the multi-billion pound Typhoon buy would form the cornerstone of a third phase to the bilateral Al Yamamah arms agreement, which has already covered the delivery and support of 120 Tornado ADV and interdictor strike (IDS) aircraft, BAE Systems Hawk and Pilatus PC-9 trainers and other equipment.
Announcing the agreement on 21 December, the UK Ministry of Defence said: “Under the terms of the signed document Typhoon aircraft will replace Tornado ADV aircraft and others currently in service with the RSAF [Royal Saudi Air Force]”. The MoD says this will cover the delivery of 24 aircraft to be drawn from the UK Royal Air Force’s production run of 89 Tranche 2 Eurofighters, a £4.3 billion ($7.5 billion) contract for which was signed in December 2004. However, the MoD stresses that the RAF will receive additional Tranche 2 airframes to offset this transfer, and that the Saudi Arabian deal will have no impact on its commitment to sign a Tranche 3 deal to take the UK’s total Typhoon purchase to 232 aircraft.
Further information on an expanded Typhoon purchase by Riyadh to potentially also replace some of its air force Northrop F-5 fighters has not been disclosed. “The details of these arrangements are confidential between the two governments”, the MoD says. While a timescale for deliveries has not been publicly disclosed, Tranche 2 deliveries are scheduled to run from between late 2007 and mid-2012 for Eurofighter partner nations Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, plus launch export customer Austria, which will acquire 18 aircraft.
The new agreement also seeks to further develop Saudi Arabia’s national aerospace industry through the transfer of technology from prime contractor BAE and the establishment of in-country support facilities. The pact also includes a framework for “developing closer service-to-service contacts, especially through joint training and exercises” between the Saudi and UK armed forces, the MoD says.
BAE on 21 December notified the London Stock Exchange of the terms of the understanding document with Saudi Arabia, but declines to comment further on the possible future business. The company is, meanwhile, also in the process of promoting an extensive upgrade to Saudi Arabia’s current fleet of Tornado IDS aircraft in a step to further boost the value of its Al Yamamah business activities, which are managed through its Customer Solutions and Support business unit
CRAIG HOYLE / LONDON
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Source: Flight International
