A contract to purchase 28 4th generation multi-role Eurofighter typhoons was signed between Kuwait and Italy on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah witnessed signing of the deal with visiting Italian counterpart Roberta Pinotti at the Army Officers' Club earlier today, a statement by the ministry's public relations and moral guidance department noted.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Finmeccanica CEO Mauro Moretti, who inked the deal on behalf of the Italian side. Finmeccanica is the aerospace company that leads commercial activities in Kuwait and signed the contract on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium.

The aircraft, 22 single seaters and 6 two-seaters will be produced in Italy. The statement pointed out the ministry's keenness to acquire highest level of operational capabilities through this purchase.

The contract, the largest ever for Finmeccanica, is an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries and includes logistics, operational support, as well as training of both aircrews and ground personnel.

The latter will be carried out in cooperation with the Italian Air Force, and in particular, with the 20th Gruppo, ItAF Typhoon OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) based at Grosseto airbase. According to the ministry statement, the first two aircraft will arrive in the last quarter of 2019, with the complete arrival of all aircrafts by 2022, and an expected in-service operation till 2050.

Kuwait is the 8th operator of the aircraft along with Austria, Italy, Germany, Oman, Spain, Saudi Arabia and the UK and will get the Typhoon in its most advanced configuration: Tranche 3 planes equipped with the cutting-edge new E-Scan radar (Electronically Scanned array radar

Source: KUNA