Britain, Italy seek to slash Eurofighter orders: report
FRANKFURT (AFP) — Britain and Italy are considering cutting orders of the Eurofighter combat jet that both countries helped develop, a press report said Monday.
"These countries have asked for information that indicates a reduction in the number" of orders, the president of the Eurofighter consortium, Aloysius Rauen told the German business daily Handelsblatt.
Partners in the consortium divided work on the plane in 1998 according to the number of aircraft each country planned to buy, with a total of 620 orders booked in three stages through 2017.
The last stage of 236 planes is now subject to "massive haggling" according to Rauen.
Britain reportedly wants to reduce its commitment to buy 88 planes by half, and Italy also wants fewer than the 46 jets it was to buy.
Full story
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5heAZRxspVJWCOXUz0vcQtmzbZJNA
FRANKFURT (AFP) — Britain and Italy are considering cutting orders of the Eurofighter combat jet that both countries helped develop, a press report said Monday.
"These countries have asked for information that indicates a reduction in the number" of orders, the president of the Eurofighter consortium, Aloysius Rauen told the German business daily Handelsblatt.
Partners in the consortium divided work on the plane in 1998 according to the number of aircraft each country planned to buy, with a total of 620 orders booked in three stages through 2017.
The last stage of 236 planes is now subject to "massive haggling" according to Rauen.
Britain reportedly wants to reduce its commitment to buy 88 planes by half, and Italy also wants fewer than the 46 jets it was to buy.
Full story
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5heAZRxspVJWCOXUz0vcQtmzbZJNA