Euro-fighter partners make final plea to Bonn

(First Edition)

DEFENCE Ministers of Britain, Spain and Italy, the three nations remaining in the European Fighter Aircraft (EFA) project, agreed yesterday to make one last attempt to persuade Germany to rejoin the project. But if that fails, they will probably go ahead with a three-nation project, although they said they would welcome any other member of the nine-country Western European Union wishing to join the enterprise. It seems most unlikely that any will.

Malcolm Rifkind, the Secretary of State for Defence, said yesterday that preliminary costings indicated that there would be no extra cost to the remaining countries if they went ahead on a tri-national basis, although Germany's continued participation was politically desirable.

However, although the aircraft would retain a common airframe and engines, to take advantage of the pounds 5bn already spent on development, ministers discussed the possibility of variations in the electronics, missiles and other equipment to suit individual nations' requirements and pockets.

Mr Rifkind met his Spanish and Italian opposite numbers, Julian Garcia Vargas and Salvo Ando, in London yesterday. A communique issued in the afternoon, after some delay because of frenzied re-drafting, said the EFA remained 'an important objective both to provide a cost-effective military capability and to keep European industries in the forefront of aerospace technology'.

Ministers proposed that officials and industry, 'if possible of all EFA nations' (including Germany), should be asked to reduce the costs of the project, and invited Volker Ruhe, the German Defence Minister, to join them 'at an early date'.

Mr Rifkind said later a German withdrawal 'would be a very bad day for European Defence co-operation' in spite of the fact 'that the project can survive even without them and may not even involve extra costs without them'.

Pressed on why the communique did not contain a firmer commitment to proceeding on a tri-national basis, Mr Rifkind said: 'If we wanted to say the future of the project depended on Germany coming back into the fold we would have said so. It may turn out to be a three-country project but I see nothing lost by trying to persuade the Germans to rejoin.'

The wording may have been left vague in order not to upset the Germans.

All three remaining nations, Britain, Italy and Spain, want to see some cost reductions. Mr Rifkind said that no firm decisions on investing in production were needed for the next six months.

Senior industry sources yesterday confirmed that a three-nation programme would probably not cost the taxpayer any more for the RAF's share. John Weston, chairman of BAe Defence Companies, said: 'We believe that we can do 250 aircraft for the RAF including production investment for the same amount of money as had been budgeted to supply those 250 aircraft out of the original four-nation programme.'