France and Britain to Sign Defense Agreements

[Richard]

Is this the future cost of maintaining a credible military force with a force projection capability during a weak global economy?

And so it goes...

Richard

France and Britain to Sign Defense Agreements
Alan Cowell, NYT, 2 Nov 2010

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France traveled to Britain on Tuesday to initiate defense agreements promising cooperation including a joint rapid deployment force, shared use of aircraft carriers and joint efforts on nuclear research.

The deal between Europe’s two nuclear-armed powers comes at a time of straitened economic circumstances in both countries with Britain in particular eager to preserve its defense industry despite spending cuts ordered as part of its most severe austerity program in decades.

While the agreements are far-reaching and could have important consequences for the profile of European defense, they are not the first to be discussed in recent years. In the late 1990s, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President Jacques Chirac promised deeper defense cooperation but that understanding did not survive bitter differences over the Iraq war.

Britain has traditionally been unwilling to share control over its armed forces, particularly with a nation such as France which has displayed different strategic priorities like those over the Iraq invasion, the relationship with Washington and, in the 1980s, Britain’s campaign in the Falklands Islands when its Argentine foes used French-made Exocet missiles against British warships.

(cont'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/wo...html?ref=world