Reid signs aircraft carrier agreement in Innsbruck

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A landmark agreement between the UK and French Governments on cooperation on aircraft carriers was signed in Innsbruck on Monday 6 March 06 by UK Defence Secretary John Reid and French Defence Minister Madame Michele Alliot-Marie.

French Defence Minister Madame Michele Alliot-Marie and Secretary of State John Reid sign the Memorandum of Understanding in Innsbruck.

The Carrier project will provide the UK armed forces with the largest and most powerful warships ever constructed in the UK. Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the UK and France will co-operate on the demonstration phase work to produce a Common Baseline Design that will meet requirements for CVF and French requirements for its carrier, PA2.

It is also intended to identify shared procurement opportunities. Ministers agreed in January the level of fee that France would pay together with their share of the demonstration phase costs. A French team has already been accommodated alongside their UK colleagues.

Speaking from Innsbruck, Mr Reid said:

"Co-operation between our two countries on our future aircraft carriers is of key importance, and the signing of this agreement today is a major step that launches our cooperation on future aircraft carriers for the next 12 months.

"In the current security environment, we must ensure that our forces have the right tools to do the jobs which we ask of them. France and the UK are working in partnership across a range of systems, which will bring benefits not only to the Armed Forces of both countries, but also to our industrial bases, economies and, therefore, to our populations."

John Reid was attending a series of informal meetings of EU Defence Ministers in Innsbruck, Austria, on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 March 2006.

The signing of the MoU builds upon the agreement that was reached during the last Anglo / French bilateral talks in London on January 24th 2006.

Topics for discussion at the Innsbruck meetings included Civil-military coordination (Emergency Support, Crisis Management); EU Operations in the Western Balkans and in Africa; and Military Capabilities of the EU. Austria took over the Presidency of the EU in January 2006; the UK held the Presidency of the EU from July to December 2005.

John Reid announced in London on 24 January the agreement between the UK and France on Aircraft Carrier co-operation. The signing of the MoU marks the formalisation of that agreement and finalises the management arrangements.

France has agreed to pay an initial fee of £100M in three stages, in recognition of the investment already made by the UK in the design of the ships. The phasing is £30m now and £25m in July. The final £45M will be conditional on a final French decision to commit to manufacturing the carriers. France will also contribute one third of the demonstration phase costs of the common baseline design.

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