The Kuwait Ministry of Defence and Finmeccanica, which leads commercial activities in Kuwait on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, has signed a contract for the supply of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, to be produced in Italy. The contract, part of an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries, was signed on 5th April 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 — the largest ever signed by the Italian group — also provides for the upgrade of ground-based infrastructure in Kuwait which will be used for Typhoon operations.

The aircraft — 22 single-seat and six twin-seat — will be of Tranche 3 standard and will be equipped with the E-Scan radar being developed by the European EuroRADAR consortium which is led by Finmeccanica.

The contract confirms the State of Kuwait as the eighth customer in the programme and as the third customer in the Gulf Region next to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman. More than 470 aircraft have been delivered to six nations: Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia.