JEDDAH, 18 September 2007 -- Saudi Arabia has signed a 4.43 billion pound ($8.86 billion) agreement with Britain to purchase 72 Eurofighter Typhoon planes, a spokesman at the Ministry of Defense and Aviation announced yesterday.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multirole canard-delta strike fighter aircraft. The aircraft is used by the German Luftwaffe, Italian Air Force, Spanish Air Force, and UK's Royal Air Force. Austria purchased 15 Typhoons before Saudi Arabia announced its plan to buy 72 planes. The aircraft is built in Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain by a consortium involving BAE, EADS and Finmeccanica.
"The two governments on Tuesday (Sept. 11) signed the contract for the acquisition of 72 planes valued at 4.43 billion pounds," the Saudi Press Agency quoted the spokesman as saying. Saudi Arabia will pay the same price per jet as those sold to the Royal Air Force, he said.
The official said the deal followed an August 2006 agreement in principle and "a memorandum of understanding between the two governments to modernize the Saudi armed forces." The agreement reflected close Saudi-British defense ties.
The memorandum, signed in December 2005, also provides for "a transfer of technology, investment in defense industry inside Saudi Arabia and the training of Saudi pilots," the spokesman said.
In January 2007, Crown Prince Sultan, who is the minister of defense and aviation, confirmed Saudi Arabia's plan to purchase 72 military aircraft from the UK. "The delivery (of these planes) will take place very soon and in accordance with a specific timetable," he told reporters in Dammam.
Saudi Arabia and Britain signed a deal on purchasing the jets in December 2005 after talks in Riyadh between Prince Sultan and the then British Defense Secretary John Reid. Sultan has emphasized the Kingdom's strategy of purchasing arms from different sources. "We don't want to depend on a single source for our defense requirements as we want to acquire the best and most advanced weapons," he said in explaining the strategy.
The Times of London reported on Sept. 7 that BAE Systems was poised to clinch the deal to supply 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Saudi Arabia. It was feared that the deal would be called off as a result of a British probe into allegations Saudi Arabia took bribes from BAE under a military-plane deal struck between Riyadh and London more than 20 years ago. Britain's Serious Fraud Office last year investigated BAE Systems' 43-billion-pound Al-Yamamah deal in 1985, which provided Hawk and Tornado jets plus other military equipment to Saudi Arabia.
The investigation was, however, shelved by the British government last December in a move supported by former Prime Minister Tony Blair amid concerns over Britain's national interests.
Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to Washington and the current head of national security in the Kingdom, categorically denied media reports that he had received huge amounts in bribes from BAE Systems for arms deals and insisted that the funds he received went to the Saudi government.
"The allegations in The Guardian have nothing to do with the truth and reality but represent a pinnacle of slander and lies," the prince said.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2007
