Germany halts taking delivery of Eurofighter jets over flaw

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government has once more stopped taking delivery of Eurofighter combat planes after a manufacturing flaw was discovered in the fuselage of the aircraft. The flaw, which does not prevent the jet from carrying out its missions, was caused by rivet holes in the rear part of the fuselage being incorrectly filed off, a German lawmaker from the Defence Ministry wrote in a letter to the budget committee, seen by Reuters. Airbus , which is part of the Eurofighter consortium, said the capabilities of the jets were unaffected and they could continue to carry out all missions. Britain's BAE Systems , responsible for manufacturing the jet's rear part, was not immediately available for comment. A year ago the German government, which has ordered 143 of the jets in total, temporarily stopped taking delivery of Eurofighters after discovering a similar manufacturing problem. It has just received the first two from the third tranche of the order, comprising 31 jets. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Jens Hack; Additional reporting by Tina Bellon and Sarah Young; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by David Holmes)