Participação dos EUA no programa Meteor?!
Não foi engano do Brigadier General Dominique de Longvilliers...
Opening the US Defence Market
Alex Ashbourne
http://www.cer.org.uk/pdf/cerwp8.pdf
(...)
Perhaps the most contentious transatlantic programme of recent years was the
competition to arm British, German, Spanish and Italian Eurofighters with a Beyond
Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM). In May 2000, the British government
announced its decision to choose the Meteor missile. This will strongly influence the
choices made by the other European partners.
The missile selection was depicted in the media as European versus American,
but
BVRAAM is a significant transatlantic programme.
The victor – the European joint
venture Matra BAE Dynamics (MBD), teaming with Boeing – is developing an entirely
new missile, Meteor. The main competitor, Raytheon, offered a modernised version of
its existing air-to-air missile (ERAAMplus). Raytheon’s consortia involved European
companies such as Thomson-Thorn Missile Electronics and Diehl.
A deciding factor for the UK was the fear that – despite written assurance from
President Clinton – the export control issue would affect future sales of the
Eurofighter. Supporters of Meteor argued that the whole raison d’être behind
Eurofighter’s development was to ensure that Europe could not be held hostage to
Congress and its export veto. Thus arming the plane with a missile that would be
subject to American export controls could make Eurofighter hard to export. Many
Americans, perhaps unsurprisingly, felt that the export control issue was just a ruse. A
senior Pentagon official admitted that the US needs to reform its export control
procedure, but he believed that the BVRAAM decision was political: “those who want
insularity in Europe support Meteor...it is a political decision made by Tony Blair”.
(...)