Italy reduces Eurofighter order

FARNBOROUGH, England, July 21 (UPI) -- Italy shocked Europe's military industry when it announced a major cut in the number of Eurofighter Typhoon jets it will order.

Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters Tuesday at Farnborough Air Show in southern England that Rome would cut its planned purchase by 25 planes due to budget pressures.

He said the Italian air force, forced to spend less in a bid to rein in the national finances, would try to save $2.6 billion by buying 96, and not 121, models of the European multirole aircraft.

The news surprised observers as Italy's Finmeccanica is part of the consortium building the Eurofighter. The decision underlines how much pressure is on European defense ministers to cut their budgets but it isn't a good one for plans to export the plane to India, which is attracting offers from all over the world for a $12 billion contract for 126 fighter planes.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine canard-delta wing multirole aircraft, designed and built by a consortium formed in 1986 that apart from Finmeccanica includes German-Spanish European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. and Britain's BAE Systems. The maiden flight of the Eurofighter prototype took place in March 1994.

Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain in the 1990s committed to buy a total of 620 Eurofighter jets but split the order into three approval tranches. The third tranche of 236 planes was split in two in 2008 when it became clear that countries have trouble paying for all planes at once.

After significant delay, the consortium nations last August signed a $13 billion order contract for a total of 112 Eurofighter jets, providing the program with a much-needed financial infusion.

Britain at the time threatened to bail out of the Eurofighter program but was ultimately convinced by the European partners to stay on board.

While critics argue the plane has been designed for Cold War-like conflicts and is obsolete, major countries in Asia and the Middle East are still stocking up on fighter jets: Saudi Arabia bought 72 Eurofighter jets from Britain and EADS, the driving force behind the program, is hoping that India will choose the Eurofighter for its planned $12 billion acquisition of 126 combat jets.

Eurofighter said at Farnborough it is developing a new radar system to be placed into the latest Eurofighter versions by 2015. Observers say the new radar, developed by multinational consortium Euroradar, is aimed at making the plane more attractive to India.

Other planes placed in the bidding race for the Indian contract are Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin's F-16 Fighting Falcon, the French-made Dassault Rafale, SAAB Gripen from Sweden and the Russian-produced Mikoyan MiG-35.