Britain recommits to Eurofighter deal

Britain surrendered to German pressure and recommitted itself to the Eurofighter defence contract yesterday, even though it has enduring concerns about the cost of the multi-billion dollar programme.

After more than a month of delay, and following phone calls from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain remained committed to Eurofighter, a contract conceived 25 years ago that involves Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain building more than 600 high-performance combat jets.

"We are moving forward with this important programme with our partner nations," Mr Brown said after weeks of talks between the defence ministry and the Treasury about the feasibility of pursuing the deal. Despite the words of commitment, Mr Brown said details relating to the third tranche of Eurofighter - which will see up to 112 aircraft built - still needed to be negotiated.

Britain is supposed to take 40 of the aircraft in the first instalment of the third tranche, but still appears to want to reduce that number.

Britain's cautious recommitment was welcomed by German officials and the Eurofighter consortium - which comprises Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Finmeccanica and EADS for Germany and Spain. Germany said shortly after Britain's announcement that it would go ahead with its share of the Eurofighter order.

The German parliament's budget committee still has to agree the purchase. But others were more sceptical about Britain's announcement and wanted to see final contract details before declaring that Eurofighter is now fully financed to completion.

With Britain in recession and public finances severely stretched, the government is taking a hard look at all major ticket defence items, including the much-delayed Airbus A400M military airlifter.

Britain said on Wednesday it was committed to the A400M, but "not at any cost", and also revealed that the aircraft would not enter service before 2014, five years late.

One of seven countries to have ordered a total of 180 of the planes, Britain also disclosed the next target deadline for a maiden flight, February 2010, something Airbus had kept secret.