Posted on 11/17/2007 9:43:51 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Saudi may order 24 Eurofighter jets
Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:46am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia could order 24 Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets from BAE Systems (BAES.L: Quote, Profile, Research) for about 1.5 billion pounds ($3.06 billion), the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported on Friday.
Saudi Arabia and Britain announced in September a 4.43 billion pound deal for 72 of the Eurofighters.
"The kingdom is set to decommission a number of aircraft and is thinking about a possible order for 24 more Eurofighters," MEED quoted an adviser to the Saudi government, that it did not identify, as saying.
"There is a need for new aircraft given the situation in the region, particularly the issue of Iran," the adviser was quoted as saying.
Saudi Arabia would also consider French fighter Rafale, made by Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), or the upgraded Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) F-15, but favoured the Eurofighter, the adviser said.
Saudi Arabia and Britain have signed arms deals since the 1960s, including the Al Yamamah arms-for-oil pacts first signed in the 1980s which have produced an estimated 43 billion pounds of business.
(Writing by Daliah Merzaban, Editing by Lin Noueihed)
Dubai 2007: Boeing forecasts Saudi order for 48 more F-15 fighters
By Craig Hoyle
Boeing is upbeat about its prospects in the global fighter market, despite the F-15’s grounding for non-essential operations by Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the USA in the wake of a 2 November crash. The decision followed the loss of a US Air National Guard F-15C, which is believed to have suffered a catastrophic structural failure during a routine training sortie. The aircraft’s pilot ejected, suffering minor injuries.
The manufacturer, which says it is providing engineering support to the US Air Force during its investigation, recently received better news for its more than 35-year-old F-15 design, in the form of a follow-on order that will double the size of Singapore’s F-15SG fleet to 24 aircraft by early next decade. Negotiations continue to supply South Korea with a second batch of 20 F-15Ks, and Boeing is also optimistic about securing a fresh deal with Saudi Arabia, reveals Chris Chadwick, vice-president/general manager global strike systems for the company’s Integrated Defense Systems unit.
“We believe the Saudis are interested in new [F-15] aircraft,” says Chadwick, citing concerns within the nation over the ongoing re-equipment of neighbouring Iran’s armed forces. A decision on a follow-on package of 24-48 aircraft could come from Riyadh within the next two years, he believes. The Royal Saudi Air Force’s 70-strong F-15S fleet is also undergoing an upgrade which will replace the type’s Pratt & Whitney F100-229 engines with General Electric F110-129Cs.
Other opportunities for the F-15 include a possible South Korean requirement for a further 60 fighters and via Japan’s McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom replacement effort, says Chadwick.
Boeing is meanwhile also looking for continued success from its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet design, having earlier this year secured a first export sale, to supply Australia with 24 F-model strike aircraft from 2010. Chadwick believes the nation’s air force could have a larger requirement for the type, potentially to also include the US Navy’s EA-18G Growler electronic-attack aircraft.
The Super Hornet will also be offered to meet the Indian air force’s 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft requirement, with Chadwick saying success in the nation would enable Boeing to go “truly global”. Noting that New Delhi’s requirement for a 50% defence offset proposal related to the fighter deal - which will exclude the final assembly of 108 of the aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics - is “sporty and difficult”, he says the company is nonetheless “optimistically bullish” about securing the deal.
Technical responses to India’s request for proposals are due next March, with offset proposals to be submitted during June. Boeing faces competition from the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16, RSK MiG-35 and Saab Gripen for the estimated $12 billion deal. Other Super Hornet prospects are listed as including Japan, Kuwait and Switzerland, with the latter having an emerging requirement for 33 new aircraft.
Chadwick says Boeing is also trying to “introduce” potential buyers of the Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to the capabilities of the Super Hornet, with the company potentially trying to persuade nations such as Norway - which continues to evaluate the Gripen and Typhoon alongside the JSF - to also consider its product. “The E/F gives them an alternative, or a bridge to whenever the F-35 comes,” he says.
Boeing hopes to receive a decision within the next 18 months on a potential third multi-year procurement deal for the F/A-18E/F with the US Navy, which Chadwick says will reduce the fighter’s fly-away unit cost from $53.8 million to $49.9 million. “The E/F is doing things in a cost and capability way that really goes against the grain,” he says, predicting that the type could remain in production for the USN and export customers until at least 2015.
Some would say, just adding a little more fuel to the coming conflagration in the Middle East.
Suppose there WERE an exchange between Israel and Iran (the expected first strike of open warfare). The most direct route between the two countries lies either over Iraq or over Saudi Arabia’s real estate and through their air space.
The Saudis are very defensive of ANYTHING that comes from from the direction of Israel, and only slightly less so regarding Iran, with which they have serious doctrinal problems on the interpretation of the Koran. For the moment, the control of the air over Iraq is largely in the hands of the coalition forces, or more specificly, the US Air Force and the US Navy.
So in this picket line between Israel and Iran, where is the weakest point? The Saudis do not want it to be them, in any circumstances.
Not everybody gets the nuances of how this poker hand is being played.
We must be mad giving a potentially dangerous muslim theocracy like Saudi Arabia such an advanced weapon system. It’s a well known fact that their society is hostile to the west and it’s values. If the monarchy ever fell or succumbed to internal pressure to adopt a more hostile position, we could be faced with having to fight an enemy that is better equipped than more recent ones who had to make do with clapped out Russian crap from the Soviet era....
The Suadis military purchases are strongly influenced by political considerations. They bought the Eurofighter to get European support.
As for them being used against the West, it is unlikely. Once the maintainers and techs leave, the systems will all be degraded, down or grounded within weeks.
China and others appear to be very active in their spying. What it to prevent them from selling know-how and technology to Saudi Arabia or others?
Are we so sure that none of those we sell to have American trained people who could in turn develop their own in-house techs and maintainers?
We didn’t meet Russian pilots over Vietnam, did we?
Our so-called arab friends.
This is GREAT news for Wahhabi clerics!! They can now torture even more gang rape victims without the West hasseling them. Congratulations to our Saudi friends! /s
Seem to be a lot of articles about Saudi weapons purchases lately....
Why would we or the Europeans sell this stuff to a potentially dangerous Wahabbist state??
Something is stirring in the Kingdom. Our dear friends are up to no good again....
That’s a question you should ask the leaders of the countries concerned.Supposedly it is to deal with the Iranian threat,though the Saudi airforce in it’s current form itself is more modern than the Iranian one.Put together with the rest of the GCC & the Egyptian airforce-the Iranians are thrashed.So there could well be the monetary factor-the Saudis take rather quick decisions unlike other buyers,so if your firm needs a fresh dose of cash,hawk your wares to them.
The Saudis order operate the largest export fleet of F-15S strike aircraft(around 70 aircraft).
Bkmarked for later. Thanks.
The title you used “Saudi Arabia may order 24 more Eurofighter jets” was not the title at the source. We’re trying to reduce the number of duplicate threads. Please do not alter published titles, nor make up your own title.
Just use the published title by copying and pasting the original title which is found at the link above the published article.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.