Douglas Barrie/LONDON
THE UK IS BEING forced to renegotiate a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering its involvement in the US Advanced Short Take-off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) programme as a result of the programme being merged with the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) project.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) concluded an ASTOVL MoU with the US Department of Defense in August 1994. The US Congress has since demanded that the ASTOVL and JAST programmes be merged, resulting in the need to re-examine the nature of the agreement.
The MoD says: "We are working with our US colleagues to establish how best the ASTOVL programme can be carried forward within JAST. As yet we do not know what the formulation will be."
The UK is examining JAST as a potential replacement for the Royal Air Force's British Aerospace Harrier GR.7s and F/A2s, along with the Panavia Tornado GR.4 strike aircraft.
The RAF has begun to look at a Tornado GR.4 replacement under the auspices of Staff Target (Air) 425 for a Future Offensive Aircraft (FOA).
Industry officials close to the ASTOVL and FOA projects suggest that, while "...the Royal Navy is very interested in an ASTOVL solution to JAST, the question remains whether JAST will meet the FOA requirement".
One source says, "If the conventional variant of JAST meets around 90% of the FOA requirement, then the UK would be likely to go with the US programme. The UK Ministry of Defence will try to keep its options open about JAST and FOA for as long as possible."
It is uncertain whether the UK would be able to afford to pursue the JAST and FOA programmes as separate aircraft projects.
The UK is also considering inviting France to participate as a potential partner in the FOA programme.
Source: Flight International
