THE UK AND THE United Arab Emirates (UAE) are close to finalising a defence co-operative agreement, along with the lease of 12 ex-Royal Air Force Panavia Tornado GR1 strike aircraft and support crew.
The negotiations were confirmed, by UK Defence Procurement Minister, Roger Freeman, who was in the UAE on 18 March, to attend the IDEX Defence Show.
The Tornado GR1s would be taken from RAF aircraft stocks and provided to the UAE under a long-term lease arrangement.
Charles Masefield, head of defence export services, says that while any leasing arrangement would include "support crew", the UAE had not requested that aircrew be provided.
In a change of export policy, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) will now consider backing only one UK Company competing for a particular overseas requirement, to avoid what Freeman describes as national industrial "fratricide". The MoD would make its preference plain, says Freeman, where a "...foreign country wants our view".
Source: Flight International
