SAUDI Arabia plans to buy more than 200 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the UK in a deal worth up to £40bn including spares, maintenance and training over the next 20 years, The Herald has learned.

The deal has been confirmed by Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia's deputy prime minister and defence and aviation chief, although details will not be disclosed until next March.

The news follows the announcement this week that 24 of the second batch of Typhoons already on order for the RAF will be diverted to the Saudi air force from 2008.

RAF insiders fear that selling aircraft to offset the Ministry of Defence's contractual obligations to the Eurofighter consortium will not only reduce the number deployed in UK frontline squadrons, but will also produce a spares shortage when the Saudis are inevitably granted priority of supply.

Despite MoD denials, RAF Tornado jets were left unserviceable in the 1990s in similar circumstances as the Saudis bought more than 100 as a deterrent to Iraq and Iran and demanded first call on spares.

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