Saudi to buy 48 Typhoon fighter jets

Saudi Arabia is to buy 48 Typhoon fighter jets from BAE Systems for  £ 5bn, at the end of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s UK visit, raising hopes of completing a long-delayed multimillion-pound deal, with the signing of the memorandum of intent, when he met Gavin Williamson, the UK defence secretary. BAE shares closed up 2.2 per cent at a five-month high of 602p. The Saudis have already taken receipt of 72 Typhoons from BAE and a deal for a second batch would be controversial. Lack of enough orders for the Typhoon, the only fighter built in the UK, has forced BAE to scale back production over the past three years and loss of 1400 jobs in its aerospace division.

Qatar signed a memorandum of intent to buy 24 Typhoons in September 2017 and placed a full £5bn order for the aircraft three months later. The aircraft is priced at £70m-£90m each.

Defence trade body ADS said the Saudi order help ensure the UK  remains a world-leading military air power.