By Alexander Nicoll, Defence Correspondent Published: January 17 2001 15:46GMT | Last Updated: January 17 2001 18:33GMT Britain will gain access to secret US stealth technology and software codes under the terms of an agreement on the $100bn Joint Strike Fighter programme signed in Washington on Wednesday. Geoff Hoon, defence secretary, announced that Britain would spend #1.9bn ($2.8bn) on the next phase of development of the aircraft and its weapons, securing 5,000 jobs at 70 British companies. Purchasing the JSF could cost the UK about another #7bn, but orders will not be placed for several years. The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force may need 150 JSFs, first to replace Britain's Harrier fleet, to fly from two planned new aircraft carriers, and later to replace Tornado GR4s as an offensive aircraft. Baroness Symons, minister for defence procurement, signed a memorandum of understanding with Rudy de Leon, US deputy defence secretary, giving the UK a say in the choice between competing Boeing and Lockheed Martin designs. The agreement on the "engineering and manufacturing development" phase marked an important step forward in transatlantic defence co-operation, giving a foreign country a voice in choosing important US weaponry for the first time. It is also innovative as the first collaborative defence programme to avoid guarantees of industrial workshare. Instead, there is to be a "level playing field" for American and British companies throughout the life of the programme - potentially 50 years. Mr Hoon said he hoped British companies would have around 15 per cent of the work, but this depended on them winning business through competition. BAE Systems and several other UK companies are part of both competing US teams. In an exchange of letters with William Cohen, US defence secretary, Mr Hoon said governments "affirm that appropriate sharing of technical information to meet UK national needs is a fundamental principle." They would seek to ensure UK industry "will have access to and use of technical information to satisfy UK MoD national requirements." Although the wording was vague, officials and industry executives said technical data would include stealth technology, software codes and ability to integrate UK weapons so that Britain could operate the aircraft independently. Mr Hoon acknowledged the incoming Bush administration would review defence programmes, but said there was no sign it had any doubt about the JSF project's importance. However, defence experts say JSF still needs to pass key US military and political hurdles, including Congressional support for such a high-spending programme and the need to rally services behind the idea of flying the same aircraft. Steve Mogford, chief operating officer of BAE Systems, said the company was "comfortable" following discussions with the government on UK industry's role in the programme. It had argued British industry needed to be sure of high-technology work, rather than just assembling JSF under licence. Britain is to spend $2bn (#1.3bn) on the next phase of the collaborative programme, and #600m on developing UK-specific technology for the aircraft, including weapons. The Pentagon plans to buy up to 3,000 JSFs, replacing the the US Air Force's F-16s, the Marine Corps' AV-8B Harriers and earlier versions of the Navy's F-18s. _______________________________________________ Crashlist website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
