Italy has thrown a spanner in the works of French jet engine maker Safran’s planned $1.8bn acquisition of the flights control business of Collins Aerospace over concerns the deal could affect key supply contracts for the Eurofighter programme.

Safran said in a statement on Monday it had been informed that the Italian government had exercised its “golden power” to oppose its acquisition of Microtecnica, Collins Aerospace’s Italian subsidiary. Collins is a subsidiary of US-based Raytheon Technologies, now known as RTX.

According to the decree issued by Italy, which has been seen by the Financial Times, a government investigation “does not allow to conclusively conclude” that Safran would “give the necessary priority to the industrial production lines of interest for national defence”.