Posted on 06/27/2007 1:30:42 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
The Austrian government and the Eurofighter consortium announced a deal on Tuesday to reduce the order of Typhoon military jets from 18 to 15 and to shift to a slightly less advanced model. The agreement will cut the total purchasing price from €2bn to €1.6bn, but eliminates the threat of a total cancellation.
The jet purchase that was signed in 2002 is unpopular in Austria and has long been opposed by the Social Democratic party which won the election last autumn, partly by railing against the Eurofighter deal. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer then appointed his confidante Norbert Darabos as defence minister with a mandate to find a legal reason to cancel the order.
But a top lawyer who studied the contracts told Mr. Darabos that such a move woluld be risky if Eurofighter, as widely expected, went to court. The cut in numbers and price was the best possible deal under the circumstances, Mr. Darabos said yesterday.
But the minister still has to convince his coalition partner, the conservative People’s Party, which had signed the original contract, at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Vice chancellor and finance minister Wilhelm Molterer repeatedly said that the protection of airspace is endangered with less than 18 jets. If necessary, he will act without consent by his coalition partner, Mr. Darabos said. In recent days, there was talk about a possible break of the coalition over the issue, but that threat seems to have receeded now.
The small Austrian order is important for Eurofighter because Austria is one of only two international customers of the four-nation consortium of the UK, Germany Italy and Spain. Saudia Arabia is expected to finalize a 10bn pound order for 72 jets with the British government this year.
We did
Eurofighther = Airbus with Guns
“Eurofighther = Airbus with Guns”
It’s a pretty looking plane, but it looks like it belongs in the 1970’s. It does not look stealthy at all. Combat shouldn’t be an issue, though — it just has to look good.
It’s really hard to make leading edge slats and canards stealthy. They have to be strong, which means they have to be all structural.
I know the Euroweenies are saying it is stealthy, but I just don’t know how that could be true. I am more inclined to believe they are just lying about that.
About as good as an F-15, but that is old technology.
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