Decisions on new British-French cruise missile are left hanging after submarine row
Progress on the development of a new cruise missile for the British and French militaries could become a victim in the row over the nuclear submarine pact announced by Australia, the U.S. and U.K. last week.
France has canceled a meeting set to start Sept. 23 between its Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace as part of its retaliation protesting the creation of a trilateral defense pact to equip Australia with nuclear submarines. That deal saw France’s Naval Group suddenly frozen out of a $66 billion contract to supply conventionally-powered boats to Canberra.
High on the Anglo-French agenda for the two-day meeting, set for just outside London, were discussions on the next step in the development of the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW), said a defense source, who asked not to be named while discussing the sensitive topic.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence and MBDA both declined to comment.
To date the two sides have spent around a total of £95 million ($130 million) on the early stages of the program.
Approval for the next phase of the FC/ASW program will now likely have to wait until the dust settles on the submarine saga, and a new date for the meeting can be set.