Britain, France to carpool on defense

By Hao Zhou

Britain and France launched a far-reaching defense partnership Tuesday that includes setting up a joint military force and a joint facility to test the safety of their nuclear arsenals, reports said.

The new joint expeditionary force of about 3,500 to 5,000 troops will begin training next year and be deployed on an ad hoc basis under a single commander, likely speaking English, AFP reported.

It will "not be a standing military force," said a British official who asked to remain anonymous.

The two countries will also work together on cyber security and to develop parts for nuclear submarines, new missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, a system to counter mines at sea and military communications satellites, according to Reuters.

They will also seek to strengthen their cooperation in the fight against terrorism, a French government source told Reuters.

"It indicates that France is moving to further integrate itself militarily in NATO, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced France's full return to the Western military alliance in March 2009," Feng Zhongping, director of the European Studies Center at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

"Enhanced military cooperation between Britain and France will push the European common defense strategy, because the idea of common defense in Europe can hardly come true without the participation of Britain - the No. 1 military power in the region," Feng said.

Additionally, under the agreement, a nuclear-simulation center will be built in Valduc, eastern France, which will work with a French-British research site in Aldermaston, southern England, to model the performances of nuclear materials to ensure the "viability, safety and security in the long term of our nuclear arsenals," the French president's office said.

The move is intended to "share the costs of development" and build "European champions" capable of competing with the US, it added.

The deal comes two weeks after British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to cut Britain's 36.9 billion pound ($59.3 billion) defense budget by 8 percent over the next four years.

Asked whether closer ties between the two military powers in Europe will cripple Washington's leadership in NATO, Su Hao, head of the Strategy and Conflict Management Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University, said that "it's hard to say at present."

"The US welcomes Europe to share the defense expense and responsibility. At the same time, it worries that the growing defense independency of Europe will put its military presence there in a dilemma," Su told the Global Times.

Agencies contributed to this story