France says oui to carrier project

France has agreed to pay Britain as much as £140m to develop and construct an aircraft carrier based on the design of those being built for the Royal Navy. It is the first concrete step towards what would be the biggest joint military programme in a generation.

The deal, hammered out in London by John Reid, defence secretary, and Mich?le Alliot-Marie, his French counterpart, would see France pay Britain as much as £100m in three installments over the course of this year for the rights to the UK design. In addition, France has agreed to put in another £40m towards the development of the carrier, which remains in the final stages of the detailed design work needed before construction can begin.

Reid said any decision on whether to move forward as a bi-national programme would be made at the end of the year, when the UK is expected to sign a construction contract. It would, however, appear unlikely that France, which has invested financially in the programme and has invested considerable political capital towards an agreement, would back off in 12 months.

British procurement officials have already committed to spending £300m during the development stage of their two-carrier programme, and the French payments have suddenly cut that budget nearly in half. In addition, senior negotiators said Britain would retain full control of the programme despite the French participation. British officials have been insistent on such control, hoping to avoid disputes that sank earlier joint programmes, particularly the Horizon frigate, a warship Britain was to build with France and Italy until it pulled out in 1999 following bitter recriminations.

For the French, the deal allows them to jump approximately two years ahead in their efforts to build a partner ship to their current carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, since their programme, codenamed Project Juliette and developed by the French shipbuilder DCN, is far less advanced than the Royal Navy design drawn up by Paris-based Thales and BAE Systems.