Kuwait is looking to upgrade its firepower against the backdrop of increased security concerns in the region linked to the rise of the Daesh group.
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“We are delighted to welcome Kuwait as the newest member of our Eurofighter Typhoon family”, said Alberto Gutierrez, chief executive of the Eurofighter consortium.
“We consider this agreement as a strong market signal for additional orders in the next few years”, Eurofighter spokesman Theodor Benien said, adding that Denmark, Belgium, Malaysia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia were among other interested customers.
The first Italian source said the government-to-government memorandum of understanding between Italy and Kuwait covered a contract that had been agreed but would now require ratification by the Kuwaiti parliament and national audit office.
A second Italian source said that over 50 percent of the value of the Eurofighter deal in Kuwait would be pocketed by Italy’s Finmeccanica, which is among the European countries building Eurofighter structures but also works on systems for the aircraft through its Selex unit. “The Eurofighter is already proven and trusted by six nations to perform in all operational environments”.
Boeing needs authorization from the federal government before selling the Super Hornets to a foreign country, and neither that authorization nor an order from Kuwait has been received yet. Sources close to the deal told that some Super Hornets might still be bought as well as the Typhoon planes.
The Typhoon has a list price of $158 million per copy, which pencils out to a total of more than $4.4 billion for the Kuwaiti order.
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Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia are the countries who have 444 Eurofighters in service. A deal with Kuwait would come as a boost for the project after the rival Rafale, built by Dassault Aviation of France, scooped commitments in Egypt, Qatar and India.
