The defence industry may face delays in the approval of major government orders due to possible general elections this autumn, Handelsblatt newspaper reported, citing sources close to the SPD social democratic party. A change of government will likely delay currently pending contracts until the beginning of next year, it said, adding more than 14 major contracts of about 25 mln eur are affected. One of these contracts is the Eurohawk project, in which the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co (EADS) and Northrop Grumman Corp are to jointly build unmanned scouting aircraft. Companies in the defence industry will come up short by "several hundred million euros" at the end of this year, the newspaper cites German industry association BDI's Helmut Harff, who is head of the defence division, as saying. The newspaper also said the government may also suspend approval for exports of munitions to non-NATO nations