FARNBOROUGH England, July 20 (Reuters) - Italy plans to cut its order for Eurofighter combat jets by 25 aircraft, with an expected saving of 2 billion euros ($2.58 billion), Defence Minister Ignazio la Russa said on Tuesday.

Italy had placed an order for 121 of the new generation jets made by a consortium of Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI), BAE Systems (BAES.L) and EADS (EAD.PA), which represents Spain and Germany.

The 25 jets make up Italy's share of the remaining production run which has not been funded, knwon as tranche 3B.

In the latest sign of gathering European defence cuts, Italy has decided to drop this tranche from the order, bringing its overall total to 96 aircraft.