|
Sweden Pulls the Rug from Under NEURON
Under a bright blue Parisian sky, with the President in attendance and the pride of French aerospace displaying overhead, the wraps came off the NEURON UCAV. NEURON is a pan-European UCAV technology demonstration program under the leadership of Dassault. Sweden is the lead partner in the effort, but on Monday Saab was not enjoying its day in the sun.
Just four days before the Paris unveiling, Sweden’s coalition government was informed by its two key minority parties that they were withdrawing their support for NEURON funding. An arcane dispute over the correct consultative procedures to be followed within government was backed up by lurid reports in the Swedish media that taxpayers’ money was being poured into “a French nuclear bomber.” The onslaught was unexpected and unavoidable, and at the eleventh hour the funding authorization was pulled. Sweden had committed to spending $98 million on its 25% share of the program. Instead, the government is now faced with a horse-trading session to placate the Miljöpartiet (Green party) and Vansterpartiet (the left party), who are supposed to be on its side in the first place. The goodwill of the Liberal opposition has also to be secured.
Saab boss Åke Svensson hides his incredulity well. “There must be some kind of ‘misunderstanding’ within the Swedish political community. All of our agreed defense decisions have been geared toward international cooperation and industrial partnership. Here we get all the benefits of a vital high-tech program for 25% of the cost. At Saab we are continuing our day-to-day work without changes, and we hope a renewed Swedish decision will not be too far away. If somehow that decision were ‘no,’ well, that would be illogical and unthinkable. Our partners have shown us some understanding — they realise there can be hiccups in political decision-making processes. They haven’t set us any deadlines, but I don’t know how patient they will be.” —Robert Hewson
back
to ShowNews home
|
