Italian defence giant Finmeccanica
on Tuesday signed a contract to supply 28 Eurofighter Typhoons
to Kuwait on the basis of an inter-governmental accord with
Italy.
It is the biggest contract ever signed by Finmeccanica,
believed to be worth between three and four billion euros.
The exact worth of the deal has not been released but
Finmeccanica is said to be counting on just under 50% of a 7-8
billion-euro contract.
"This is Finmeccanica's largest ever commercial
achievement", said Mauro Moretti, Finmeccanica CEO and General
Manager.
"It is an outstanding industrial success with significant
benefits, not only for our company and the other Eurofighter
consortium partners, but also for the entire Italian aerospace
industry. The contract will support expertise and skilled jobs
at Italian small and medium-sized security and defence
companies."
In a statement, Finmeccanica said "the Kuwait Ministry of
Defence and Finmeccanica, which leads commercial activities in
Kuwait on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, today signed a
contract for the supply of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, to
be produced in Italy.
"The contract, part of an intergovernmental agreement
between the two countries, was signed in the presence of the
Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti and her Kuwaiti
counterpart, H.E. SHAIKH Gen. Khaled Al Jarrah Al Sabah.
"The contract signed by Finmeccanica includes logistics,
operational support and the training of flight crews and ground
personnel, which will be carried out in cooperation with the
Italian Air Force. The contract also provides for the upgrade of
ground-based infrastructure in Kuwait which will be used for
Typhoon operations.
"The Eurofighter Typhoon for Kuwait, which will be
provided in its most advanced configuration, will be equipped
with the cutting-edge new E-Scan radar (Electronically Scanned
array radar). The radar is developed by the European EuroRADAR
consortium which is led by Finmeccanica.
"The contract with Kuwait was signed following a thorough
flight and technical evaluation of a number of competing
aircraft in the same category. It is part of a wide-ranging
partnership between the Italian Ministry of Defence and the
Kuwait Ministry of Defence, which will continue to strengthen
cooperation between the two nations and other European members
of the Eurofighter consortium (the UK, Germany and Spain).
Finmeccanica is the leading industrial group in the
high-technology sector in Italy and one of the main global
players in aerospace, defence and security. It operates in five
sectors: aeronautics, helicopters, electronics, defence systems
and space. The company is partially owned by the Italian
government through the economy ministry, which holds 30.204% of
Finmeccanica's shares.
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