BAE Systems is close to selling 12 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Oman, according to sources close to the deal.

Analysts estimate the sale could be worth up to $2 billion to Europe's biggest defense contractor.

“BAE and Oman are close to an agreement for 12 Eurofighters,” one source told Reuters on Tuesday.

BAE is also in talks to supply 60 Eurofighters to the UAE if the state's deal with France's Dassault falls through, one of the sources said.

The UAE was expected to finalize a $10 billion agreement with Dassault last year but the talks faltered after the UAE said the terms were uncompetitive and unworkable.

“The UAE fighter competition has a long way to run yet,” a source close to the talks said.

Earlier this year BAE's Eurofighter consortium lost out on the sale of 126 fighters to India which chose the Dassault Rafale as preferred bidder.

But the Eurofighter consortium, made up of BAE Systems, Italy's Alenia and European aerospace and defense group EADS, has an amended bid ready if the Dassault deal collapses. It is also bidding to supply fighters to Malaysia.

BAE in May signed a 1.6 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) deal to supply Saudi Arabia with Hawk jets to train pilots to fly the Eurofighter which it has already ordered from UK company.

The deal provided some welcome relief for the British defense giant, whose shares have risen 7.5% in the last month and were 0.2% down at 290.1 pence by 1250 GMT, valuing the company at around 9.4 billion pounds.

Saudi Arabia - the world's top oil exporter - signed a contract with BAE in 2007 to buy 72 Typhoon aircraft, 24 of which have been delivered to the Royal Saudi Air Force. The Salam deal, as it is known, is worth around 4.5 billion pounds.

Talks between BAE and Saudi over changes to the price of the deal are still expected to be completed in the second half of 2012.

 

Source: Reuters