The US threat to British sovereignty

Posted on: Jun. 20th, 2005 || Source: telegraph.co.uk | E-mail Article | Print Article

The UK is threatening to pull out of the $200bn Joint Strike Fighter programme if the US continues to refuse to share technology. Sylvia Pfeifer reports

Geena Davis, Hilary Duff and other stars joined business leaders last Sunday at the Ford Theater in Washington for the annual Salute to the Troops Gala. Among the guests was Dick Olver, the chairman of BAE Systems, Britain's largest defence contractor - who was there to schmooze unglam-orous White House officials about progress on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme.

The JSF is being built by a consortium of nine partner nations led by the US, whose lead contractor is Lockheed Martin. At an estimated cost of $200bn (£110bn), it will probably become the largest project in military history.

But as the programme starts to move from development into production, there is growing tension between America and its most important partner, the UK. At issue is the Pentagon's apparent reluctance to share sensitive defence technology with Britain.

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