AIRBUS SE LONDON (Reuters) - BAE Systems (>> BAE Systems plc), Europe's biggest defence company, has won a 100 million pound ($154 million) contract extension to continue providing maintenance services for the Eurofighter Typhoon jet's defensive radar.
The company announced the deal on Tuesday at the opening of a major defence conference in London, at a time when it is trying to sell more of the fighter jets.
BAE Systems wants to lead deals to win new orders with countries including Saudi Arabia. It has said it is depending on those anticipated new orders to meet its 2015 forecast for marginal growth in earnings per share.
The contract announced on Tuesday for Typhoon's Radar and Defensive Aids Sub System (RDSS) would run until July 2016 and would support fleets of the jets in Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, BAE said.
The Eurofighter jet is a joint project between BAE, Airbus (>> Airbus Group) and Finmeccanica (>> Finmeccanica SpA).
The partners have already won a deal to fit the Typhoon with a new, more advanced radar system which they believe will help the jet secure new orders.
Kuwait said it would buy 28 Eurofighters earlier in September, in a deal which an industry source said was led by Finmeccanica, but the jet has this year attracted fewer orders than a rival fighter jet, the Rafale, built by France's Dassault Aviation-built (>> DASSAULT AVIATION).
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Mark Potter)
