Douglas Barrie/LONDON
A POLITICAL ROW is brewing between the UK and French Governments over an apparent attempt by Paris to cripple UK company GEC Marconi's bid to win a £1 billion ($1.5 billion) procurement programme for the Royal Air Force.
The UK company is offering its Pegasus missile, in a competition to meet a key RAF requirement, for a conventionally armed stand-off missile (CASOM).
Earlier this year, the French Government made it known that it would not approve a proposed merger by British Aerospace Defence Dynamics and Matra unless the French company's Apache missile contender for the requirement was selected by the UK Ministry of Defence. BAe and Matra are teamed in the bid.
The controversial French move was not welcomed in London and, with the BAe Matra tie-up now in limbo nearly three years after talks began, there is little optimism the merger will go ahead.
Several of the key components for the Pegasus, including the power plant, warhead and navigation system, are sources from French companies and need export clearance from Paris.
Despite repeated GEC requests for licence clearance for the French firms - Microturbo for the engine, SNPE for the warhead, and Sagem for the inertial-navigation system - there has been no response from the appropriate French agencies.
GEC declines to comment beyond saying: " Licences have neither been approved nor denied." The UK Ministry of Defence also declines to discuss the issue, as do the French companies involved.
In exasperation, GEC is understood to have approached the UK Government, which, in response, asked for "clarification" from the French Government. No reply has yet been received.
Nevertheless, it is a tactic with, which the UK is well conversant with. In 1994, Paris withheld clearance for the export of a French-made radar, fitted on board Royal Navy Upholder class submarines, which the UK was trying to sell to Pakistan. The order was eventually, won by France.
Senior sources close to the programme say that the French move against GEC has wider implications than just the RAF bid, with the UK company competing with Matra in other markets.
GEC's Pegasus is based on its precision-guided munition (PGM) family of weapons developed for the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE now has a requirement for a long-range missile, which GEC and Matra are competing. Were the GEC bid not to be selected to meet the RAF's requirement, it would be highly unlikely that a Pegasus derivative, would be chosen in the UAE.
Alongside GEC and BAe, McDonnell Douglas, Hughes, Rafael, Texas Instruments, and Daimler Benz Aerospace are competing for the CASOM.
Source: Flight International
