Saudi to get Eurofighters earlier?

From http://www.idrw.org/index.php?categoryid=10&p2_articleid=244

SAUDI Arabia has agreed a deal with the British government to deliver Eurofighter jets, at present earmarked for the RAF and Austria, to the Kingdom because of the worsening situation in the Middle East.

The government is close to concluding a £5.4bn (E7.8bn, $10bn) contract with the Royal Saudi Airforce involving 72 Eurofighter Typhoon Jets being made by BAE Systems, part of the four-nation European consortium building the aircraft. As part of the final terms of that contract, defence sources in Saudi Arabia said this weekend that Saudi Arabia has requested some of its Eurofighter order much earlier than BAE can deliver.

To meet the Saudi request, the government has agreed to divert some of the 144 planes being built for the RAF ¨C and possibly some of 18 planes ordered by the Austrian Airforce ¨C to Saudi instead. Partner nations Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain have ordered more than 600 aircraft.

Des Browne, the UK Defence Secretary, will travel to Riyadh imminently to sign the final agreement on the Typhoon Acquisition Project with Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister. The deal includes infrastructure contracts worth £30bn.

Would the Austrians agree to this, given that thye have been waiting for the Eurofighter for some time now?

But it seems that the Saudi deal will come to fruition. This is bad news for the French and the Rafale who were hoping to get some Saudi action.