By Andrea Thomas and Daniel Michaels
BERLIN--Germany has canceled the delivery of 37 Eurofighter jets
valued at 3.5 billion euros ($4.8 billion), two officials told The
Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
But the terms under which Germany might cancel its order and how
formally the decision has been made were unclear. Airbus Group NV,
which handles the German Eurofighter contract, said it had not been
told of a government decision.
"We have existing agreements," a spokesman for the Defense &
Space unit of Airbus said. "We have not been informed of any
changes."
German Deputy Defense Minister Stephane Beemelmans told a
meeting of the lower house of parliament's defense committee on
Wednesday that Germany has canceled the final tranche of 37 jets,
according to one of the officials, a parliamentary official who
attended the meeting and declined to be identified. A government
official confirmed the decision. Germany had ordered 180
Eurofighters.
The ministry cited cost as the reason for the cancellation, and
said Germany doesn't need the final 37 planes in its order, the
parliamentary official said.
The ministry canceled the order on Dec. 17. It agreed to pay a
cancellation penalty of EUR54 million to MTU Aero Engines, a German
engine maker involved in the project, according to the
parliamentary official.
The Eurofighter is built by a consortium French-German-Spanish
Airbus, BAE Systems PLC of Britain and Italy's Finmeccanica
SpA.
Germany now operates 107 Eurofighters and has another 36 on
contract before the 37 in question, the Airbus spokesman said.
Write to Andrea Thomas at andrea.thomas@wsj.com and Daniel
Michaels at daniel.michaels@wsj.com
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