London: The Eurofighter consortium, made up of Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, is leading the race to win a £7 billion ($11.3 billion) deal to supply 126 Typhoon fighter jets to the Indian Air Force, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The Typhoon, produced by Britain’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Finmeccanica and pan-European aerospace firm EADS, topped the Indian Air Force’s technical assessment of bids, beating the American F16 and F18s, Russian MiG 35 and France’s Dassault Rafale, the report said.
If the Eurofighter jet wins the deal, India would become the consortium’s third-largest customer and an unofficial fifth partner in the project.
“The Indians would be one of the biggest users of Typhoon, which would give them a vote at the table,” the paper cites an official as saying, adding that the findings have been forwarded to India’s defence ministry who will make a final decision in “the next few months”.
Eurofighter representatives were unavailable for comment when contacted by Reuters.
