Seems that Blair is a PM with a great future behind him , even GW Bush has given him the cold shoulder ...
ROLLS Royce, Britain’s aero engine maker, and General Electric of America, are reported to have lost out on a multi-billion dollar contract to supply engines for America’s F-35 joint strike fighter after Prime Minister Tony Blair’s appeals to President Bush were rejected.
A Reuters report late Friday based on sources claiming close ties to defence contractors and the Pentagon, says Blair ended a video conference with Bush last week “empty-handed”.
It is believed the Pentagon wants to kill the engine being developed by GE and Rolls-Royce.
Under the Pentagon’s plans more than 2,400 F-35s would be built in three models for the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Britain’s Royal Navy.
Rolls-Royce and General Electric won a $2.4bn (£1.4bn, E2bn) development contract from the Pentagon last July based on having a choice of two engines for the first batch of F-35s. The other engine is being developed by the American company Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies unit.
A spokesman at the White House would not confirm what was said between Blair and Bush in the discussions. “We don’t get into characterising those private conversations,” said Frederick Jones.
Blair has raised the issue in two video conferences and in an earlierletter, confirmed Rhian Chilcott, head of the Washington office of the Confederation of British Industry, the industry group representing British firms such as Rolls-Royce.
The Rolls-Royce/GE development contract was to run through to September 2013. It would have led to huge earnings from the sale of spares and maintenance of the engines over their projected 40-year life.
The Pentagon plans to spend some $256bn, its biggest purchase, on the radar-evading, single-seat F-35 being developed by Lockheed Martin.
ROLLS Royce, Britain’s aero engine maker, and General Electric of America, are reported to have lost out on a multi-billion dollar contract to supply engines for America’s F-35 joint strike fighter after Prime Minister Tony Blair’s appeals to President Bush were rejected.
A Reuters report late Friday based on sources claiming close ties to defence contractors and the Pentagon, says Blair ended a video conference with Bush last week “empty-handed”.
It is believed the Pentagon wants to kill the engine being developed by GE and Rolls-Royce.
Under the Pentagon’s plans more than 2,400 F-35s would be built in three models for the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Britain’s Royal Navy.
Rolls-Royce and General Electric won a $2.4bn (£1.4bn, E2bn) development contract from the Pentagon last July based on having a choice of two engines for the first batch of F-35s. The other engine is being developed by the American company Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies unit.
A spokesman at the White House would not confirm what was said between Blair and Bush in the discussions. “We don’t get into characterising those private conversations,” said Frederick Jones.
Blair has raised the issue in two video conferences and in an earlierletter, confirmed Rhian Chilcott, head of the Washington office of the Confederation of British Industry, the industry group representing British firms such as Rolls-Royce.
The Rolls-Royce/GE development contract was to run through to September 2013. It would have led to huge earnings from the sale of spares and maintenance of the engines over their projected 40-year life.
The Pentagon plans to spend some $256bn, its biggest purchase, on the radar-evading, single-seat F-35 being developed by Lockheed Martin.
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