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Eurofighter GmbH’s deal to supply the Kuwait military with 28 Typhoon aircraft has boosted the consortium’s position in the Middle East and Europe as talks continue with Saudi Arabia over a second fleet of jets, according to Chief Executive Officer Alberto Gutierrez.

The Kuwaiti deal signed Friday, said to be valued at as much as 8 billion euros ($9 billion), was the warplane maker’s first since 2012 when it sold 12 aircraft to Oman. The consortium, part-owned by BAE Systems Plc, Airbus Group SE and Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA, has been under pressure to decide whether to slow manufacturing to keep production lines open past 2018, when the final order would be completed.

“The deal is extremely positive,” Gutierrez said in an interview at the DSEI defense conference in London, adding that the company now has more time to consider how to approach the production line’s pace. “It’s the third country from the Gulf that is likely going to join our club. The Typhoon is becoming the fighter of reference in the region.”

The order -- currently in the form of a memorandum of understanding -- has also helped boost Eurofighter’s prospects for selling the Typhoon to Belgium, which met with the combat-jet maker Tuesday at the defense exhibition and said the country was “reassured” by Kuwait’s lead, an effect Gutierrez expects to see in other prospect states, he said.

A “valid offer is on the table” in Bahrain, and the pan-European consortium is ready to respond to a request from the UAE, he said. Meanwhile, no outcome is likely soon from the Saudi talks, Gutierrez said.

“Nothing is expected at this point in time that gives us confidence that we will complete a deal soon,” he said of talks with Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for the company said the CEO was referring to the visibility on the progress of the talks, not the talks themselves.

Aging Fleet

Eurofighter is also targeting a future procurement program in Poland and an existing process in Finland, which is looking to replace its aging fleet, Gutierrez said. The company, which is based near Munich, also is providing Denmark, which is due to make selection in February, with a proposal.

A bid to sell the Typhoon to Qatar is still alive, he said, despite an agreement signed in May between the state and the French maker of the Rafale fighter, Dassault Aviation SA.

A collapse in oil prices that has weighed on the Malaysian economy could hinder the progress of a deal selling the Typhoon to the state. The company would be open to establishing a financial structure that could work for the state in anticipation of a resurgence of oil prices, he said.

Eurofighter is also waiting for clarity from Indonesia, which has said it would purchase Russia’s Sukhoi Su-35 as a replacement for its U.S.-made F-5s, on whether the decision rules out a potential Typhoon sale as well.

(Updates with company comment in seventh paragraph.)