Eurofighter Question: Will UK export sales come out of the UK's 232 unit total?

There’s no easy way to put it.

The UK’s Eurofighter production committment is far too large. The RAF has absolutely no use for a full production run of 232 Eurofighters.

At the beginning of the decade, the combined Jaguar and Tornado F.3 fleets totalled less than 150 active aircraft. Force totals have been reduced and will be reduce further in future. Short of a premature – and very unexpected -draw down of the Tornado GR.4 fleet, it appears that RAF will be placing Eurofighters in storage long before production of the type ends.

It is obvious that many Tranche 1 and 2 Eurofighters will have a very short service life with the RAF.

The big question is whether the Saudi purchase will be in addition to the Eurofighter’s planned production run, or whether the United Kindom will be able to offload some of the RAF’s surplus production allocation. Are we talking about a government-to-government sale or has the United Kingdom government ceded sovereignty to the Eurofighter consortium?