UK moves closer to military partnership with France

The defence secretary, Liam Fox, today spoke of the prospect of close military co-operation with France, a country he called Britain's "natural" partner in Europe. Fox described France as Britain's major western ally, along with the US, after a meeting in Paris with his French counterpart, Hervé Morin. "These are natural partnerships. We intend to develop them for reasons of our mutual security," he said. Among a range of projects suitable for closer co-operation, he singled out Europe's new military transport aircraft, the A400M. Europe has a chronic shortage of large aircraft which can carry troops and military equipment. Defence officials told the Guardian that other possible areas of co-operation included unmanned drone flights and tanker aircraft used to refuel warplanes. While the two ministers dismissed the idea of sharing aircraft carriers as unrealistic, officials are looking at the scope for shared operations and the use of each other's military platforms. One problem is that British defence ministers have so far opted for the hugely expensive US short-takeoff Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for the navy's two proposed new carriers, while French carrier-borne planes are launched by catapult. One option is to scrap plans to buy the JSF for both carriers and turn one of them into a less expensive, more adaptable ship. The carriers are due to enter service in 2016 and 2018 at an estimated cost of £5.2bn. Fox stressed the coalition government's "willingness to engage in stronger bilateral co-operation with France". He added: "And why France? Because there are two things that matter most when it comes to defence co-operation: the willingness to deploy and the willingness to spend on the research and development required to maintain modern military capabilities. That makes France the natural European partner for the United Kingdom." Fox said it was not simply a response to budgetary pressures. "It has to be driven by wider security interests." Morin said the two countries would come up with precise proposals by the end of October, after Britain's strategic defence and security review.