Lack Of Orders, High-Cost May Force Germany, Spain To Suspend Eurofighter Production

Germany and Spain are likely to suspend assembly of Eurofighter jets temporarily or permanently due to lack of contracts and complexity of the production process.

The final assembly of the jets is likely to be suspended in Germany at least until 2018.

The components of the aircraft are manufactured at four plants in Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, which makes the production very complicated and expensive.

Eurofighter production is like a puzzle. All right wings are produced in Spain, all the left in Italy and the center fuselage pieces in Germany. The components are then assembled in four final assembly plants to manufacture flight models, German news daily Die Welt reported Tuesday.

Spain may as well suspend the final assembly of the fighter jets. The UK and Italy will continue the production of the jets. The Italian production line has to export 28 Eurofighters in 2018. UK is hopeful of a contract with Saudi Arabia, the newspaper reported.

An early indicator for the future of the multi-billion project is the location in the supplier factories. And there are specific warning signs.

The revenue from the fighter jet program will significantly decline this year. Premium Aerotec, a subsidary of Airbus earned two billion euros of which the majority of their revenue came from Airbus civil aircraft.

For time being, Aerotec will deliver the last fuselage section, the news daily quoted a spokesperson as saying. Until the delivery of the first body part of the Kuwait export order it would likely pass two years. So there is an interruption.

By comparison, Airbus builds more commercial aircraft in the month as the Euro Fighter consortium in four locations throughout the year.

Among the issues of the future in Euro Fighter project also includes the discussion of whether and how the industry will be compensated because the four project countries (Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain) decrease less Jets, than in 1998 agreed in a framework contract. Experts talk about the abolition of Tranche 3B 124 jets.

The time delays are immense. This year alone, the delivery has been delayed due to poor quality to an additional four months with the already 140 month lag, says the latest report armor of Defense. The new electronic radar that is to be developed until 2021 is already 14 months behind schedule.