The spending review has undergone some changes from the one originally conceived by the Government, turning into huge cuts rather than simply revising the expenditure. The defense sector has been particularly involved in this maneuver and the halving of the F-35 program is the most tangible demonstration.
Despite the savings obtained, the Ministry of Defense needs resources, and to find them it is trying to sell all those vehicles whose repair and modernization cost exceeds the actual 50% of the market value. Among these are the first Typhoons that entered service.
Despite some shadows on the aircraft's capabilities revealed in some wargames, the Eurofighter ranks second, after the F-22, among the latest generation fighters, and therefore requires highly qualified technical personnel and well-trained pilots to be able to guarantee them the operability. This significantly reduces the number of possible buyers, who should have enough funds for maintenance and training, but at the same time have a reduced budget to be satisfied with used aircraft. A contradiction that limits the profile of the potential customer, such as Romania and Turkey, which had shown interest in purchasing the Typhoon.
The aircraft delivered to the Italian Air Force are configured for interception, which excludes the nations that would need a second-hand multi-role fighter. In fact, a country with few economic resources would prefer to have a more versatile fighter-bomber like the F-16.
To circumvent this evidence, the Ministry of Defense has retouched the price of the Typhoon, but at the moment the profile of the possible buyer has not changed and the hoped for revenue is slow to arrive.
source: La Stampa
