UK and France launch new partnership on future guided weapons technology
Britain and France announced a new initiative in European defence research collaboration, with the formation of an Innovation and Technology Partnership (ITP) focused on materials and components for missiles.
The ITP builds on the UK’s Defence Technology Centre concept, and will be jointly funded by the British and French governments and an industry/academia consortium led by MBDA. Others companies will include Thales Air Systems, Thales Missile Electronics, Microturbo, Selex, Roxel, QinetiQ and Nexter Munitions. The UK MOD will fund £2.5M/pa and the French DGA €3.5M/pa, while industry expects to match the combined total of the Government funding. The ITP will initially run for 3 years, extendable to 5 years.
The ITP aims to consolidate a future European guided weapon capability by building the technological base and allowing a better understanding of common future needs. It will also prepare for future cooperative programmes by fostering co-operation.
Following a meeting of the Franco British High Level Working Group, a joint Government/Industry forum for enhancing cooperation in defence acquisition, Baroness Taylor, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support and Francois Lureau, the French National Armaments Director, said
“This Innovation and Technology Partnership is a tangible example of European cooperation that will help ensure that both the UK’s and the French armed forces will continue to have access to vital technology, and maximises the benefit of investment from the British and French Governments and from industry.
“Both governements have identified the need for further work on emerging technologies for complex weapons, as underlined in the UK Defence Technology Strategy, together with the importance of the UK and France building the base for a future Franco-British complex weapons capability. Today’s announcement underlines our commitment to taking this forward through innovative collaboration across national governments and industry. The Missile ITP establishes a new business model for defence research.”
The ITP aims to fulfil joint research needs of UK and France for missile technology. It will identify common capability and technology needs and identify and de-risk emerging technologies for future equipment. Governmental experts of both nations will establish a Joint Team to monitor and evaluate jointly the different workpackages of this project, in the broader perspective of expertise sharing. The collaboration also aims to provide more effective access to innovation from SMEs and Universities and forge better links between industry and government.
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QinetiQ, Thales, UK MoD, Selex, MBDA, Guided Weapons
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