The cabinet put this purchase on its schedule, confirming a decision made in July 2002.

The Eurofighters will replace by 2005 the 24 JAS-35 Draken and Saab-105 fighter jets Austria had bought from the Swedish Saab manufacturer in 1985.

Vienna had originally planned to buy 24 Eurofighters but reduced the order due to budgetary constraints.

The 24 "Eurofighter Typhoon" would have cost 1.79 billion eurosbillion dollars).

No cost figure has been given for the current order of 18 of the warplanes.

The Eurofighter -- a two-seater, two-engine fighter jet -- is being made by a consortium composed of Britain's BAE Systems, Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa), Italy's Alenia and the Spanish group Casa.

SPACE.WIRE