Saudi Deal
Unless it is in the contract I can't see what difference it makes to Eurofighter what the UK does with its tranche 2s. Particularly the 24 constructed here.
It certainly spreads the cost of Typhoon over more years. I'm guessing we will be receiving more tranche 3's so won't need to pay for them till later. Unfortunately this isn't going to help much as the later years must already be starting to fill up with things like Trident 2, helicopters, C1,2,3