Paris, 22 July 2003: Returning from meetings and briefings in Washington (15-18 July 2003), members of the Assembly’s Technological and Aerospace Committee said that the US government and industry were very interested in transatlantic defence cooperation. Their American counterparts had underlined their willingness to jointly develop defence equipment, pointing to a number of innovative technologies such as drones, unmanned aircraft, stealth technology, broadband communication links and space sensor technology. Representatives of both the Administration and industry had stressed the importance of transatlantic defence cooperation at bilateral and multinational level with a view to building integrated weapons systems. They were somewhat critical of European efforts to develop autonomous systems that could hamper interoperability.

Parliamentarians received briefings from Pentagon officials and representatives of the Missile Defense Agency at the Department of Commerce and the Institute for Defence Analysis. They had meetings with representatives of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and visited the Lockheed Martin fighter demonstration centre for briefings on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

On missile defence the American counterparts explained that they were seeking geographic as well as industrial support from friends and allies in order to create a “global” programme. Responding to questions by British members on whether participation in the programme would also mean that a country would have access to its own interceptor devices, they explained that the programme could give global protection, but that the role of the friends and allies remained to be determined. Asked to comment on a report criticising the viability of boost phase missile defence that had been published by the American Physical Society during the visit, they replied that this report represented one opinion among many others, and that many scientists had expressed support for the programme. The programme would continue in parallel on the three layers of missile defence (boost phase, midcourse phase and terminal phase) and testing would be accelerated in order to meet the goal of setting up an initial capability by 2004.

Industry representatives as well as Pentagon officials were critical of proposals for expanding US legislation that limited commercial freedom on the defence market. However, while the “buy American” laws might already be having adverse effects on the possibility for American defence companies to engage in international cooperation including direct foreign investments, the market protection they provided would be welcomed by some small- and medium-sized companies.

In a letter addressed to Committee Chairman Francisco Arnau Navarro (Socialist Group, Spain) and with reference to “the excellent relationship between the Assembly and the Department of Defense”, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had invited the WEU parliamentarians to Washington in order to “further our shared goal of increased transatlantic armaments cooperation”.