JAKARTA - Italy plans to disburse less than 7.5 billion euros (8.1 billion US dollars) over the next 11 years to buy 24 new Eurofighter jets, according to Ministry of Defense documents.
In the document seen by Reuters, the procurement will update the Italian air force fleet considering the need to retire Eurofighter and Tornado jets that age as defense spending increases by members of the NATO alliance due to increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
The Double-engined supersonic Eurofighter Typhoon jet was built by a consortium of Germany, England, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo.
Given that orders will be made by the Italian air force, Leonardo will be assigned as the main contractor.
A spokesman for the Italian state-controlled aerospace and defense group declined to comment on the document. In June, a senior company executive told Reuters the government would soon announce the plan.
"This program... will have a multi-year development period of around 2024-2034... with a total of 7,477.3 million euros," the defense document said as quoted Monday, July 8.
Funding is already available at 690 million euros, while the remaining 6.8 billion euros will be financed through arrangements to be determined in the future.
The aircraft will replace 26 aircraft which are planned to be replaced by Italy starting in 2028 and the contract will provide technical support for jets and staff training.
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The relevant parliamentary committee will issue an opinion regarding the purchase program in mid-August which was proposed last weekend by the Italian government.
Germany last month also announced it would buy 20 additional Eurofighters. The Berlin Air Force currently operates 138 of them.
"The new technology available to competitors means that the air supremacy, the key element of space control, is unacceptable and in some situations it may not even be achievable," the document said.
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