It’s “no” for the Typhoon! And there is a cold shower in London and Riyadh: Berlin refuses to export the Typhoon fighter jet of the Eurofighter consortium (BAE Systems, Airbus and Leonardo) to Saudi Arabia. Under strong pressure from Vice-Chancellor and Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had to decide to decide on the second day of the NATO summit in Vilnius the long-awaited confirmation of the days since the German Greens and the SPD announced their have declared opposition to selling Typhoon to Riyadh. According to Portal, Germany, which makes a third of the fighter jet’s equipment and components, will not decide on such a sale in this legislative session, which ends in 2025.
No export before end of war in Yemen
“There will be no decision about the delivery of Eurofighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia anytime soon,” Olaf Scholz told reporters at the NATO summit in Lithuania on Wednesday. The German newspaper SZ earlier on Wednesday quoted an internal government document as saying that “applications for export licenses for Saudi Arabia will be postponed until the end of the war in Yemen”. This decision contradicts Olaf Scholz’s promise to export arms to Saudi Arabia again when he travels to Riyadh in September 2022. The volume of German licenses for Typhoon had already been greatly reduced (EUR 883,550 for the first half of 2023). and 44.2 million in 2022) and concerned only indirect sales (via other European countries).
The Chancellor clearly applies the coalition agreement, which unites the SPD, Greens and FPD, to arms exports to authoritarian regimes and/or during war. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition that has been fighting Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen since 2015. Germany halted arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia: 48 to 70 aircraft under negotiation
Berlin’s decision will also greatly anger Great Britain, which has been negotiating the sale of 48 to 70 more Typhoon to Riyadh for several months. Since the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier this year, Britain has argued with Germany that it can no longer block Typhoon exports to third countries. All the more so as the Eurofighter consortium has big ambitions for future sales of the Typhoon. On June 19, Eurofighter GmbH CEO Giancarlo Mezzanatto estimated the sales potential at “150 to 200 aircraft over the next two years”.
According to him, “there are real opportunities for additional orders in Germany and Spain, as well as in the export market”. On export, he said: “We have good opportunities to expand customer base and increase the size of the Eurofighter fleet from our current customers to current customers in the Middle East.”
Since the start of the program, the Eurofighter consortium has sold 681 Typhoon, of which 151 are for export (72 to Saudi Arabia, 28 to Kuwait, 24 to Qatar, 15 to Austria and 12 to Oman). In mid-July, 581 aircraft were delivered, including 117 for export. BAE Systems signed a letter of intent in March 2018 (Memorandum Of
intention) with Ryad to equip the Saudi Air Force (RSAF) with 48 Typhoon (44 single seaters and 4 two seater) to replace their old Panavia Tornado. Devices that should in principle be partly assembled in Saudi Arabia as part of the IKIP directive (In-Kingdom Industrial Program).
A bad signal for the SCAF, but…
This decision is a very bad signal for future exports of the European SCAF (Future Air Combat System) program, which unites Germany, France and Spain in the countries of the Near and Middle East. Especially since Berlin has to pass an export law in the fall, a project that worries all of Germany’s European partner countries. On the other hand, Dassault Aviation, which regularly monitors Riyadh, could see this as an additional opportunity to replace the Typhoon with the Rafale in Saudi Arabia. Especially since the Saudis would have sent very clear messages to the French: They would like “Itar-free” and “German-free” fighter planes.
