Typhoon Tranche 2 order signed
Daily Telegraph:
Hoon confirms £4.3bn order for combat jets
Defence secretary Geoff Hoon yesterday confirmed that Britain will buy £4.3billion worth of Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
The hurried announcement for an additional 89 combat jets torpedoed a carefully planned day-long press conference to be laid on by the Ministry of Defence tomorrow. It ended two years of speculation over whether the "second tranche" of Eurofighter would ever get signed. The project is already estimated to be six years late and costs have trebled to $100billion (£51billion).
Mr Hoon issued the statement to Parliament after the news started to leak out that Germany, Spain, France and the UK signed their order for 236 jets, worth €13billion, on Tuesday. He said: "This is excellent news for both the Royal Air Force and for United Kingdom industry and represents the achievement of another major milestone for the Typhoon project. "Typhoon will be an outstandingly capable, state-of-the-art aircraft which will form a cornerstone of the RAF's future capability. The Typhoon will be a world beating aircraft and this major investment will provide the RAF with the capability to respond to the challenges and threats we face now and in the future."
Not everyone was so upbeat. Shares in BAE closed up just 0.75 at 238.25p. One analyst said the successful conclusion of tranche two was factored into BAE's share price, adding that in his view "Typhoon is little more than a European job creation scheme".
BAE Systems, which is building 37pc of the jets, issued a brief statement saying it "welcomes" the announcement. A company spokesman admitted "it is not the best timing", with the top brass being wheeled out to trumpet the deal at RAF Northolt tomorrow. Dignitaries such as Mr Hoon and Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup (chief of the air staff) have been invited.