GERMANY TO BUY ARMS FROM BRITAIN?

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29061, 25 November 1959, Page 15

GERMANY TO BUY ARMS FROM BRITAIN?

Big Contract For Missiles Reported

(NZ. Preas Actoctatton—Copyngnt;

(Rec. 11 p.m.)

LONDON, November 24.

Jo* ?5 rmar )y is prepared to place arms contracts wo th £9 million with Britain, according to national newspapers today. bailee mSik n 8 "*** tO include the 100-mile‘range Blue Water . s h o PP* n g list” for arms will be discussed by the British Defence Minister, Mr Harold Watkinson, with Mr Franz Josef btrauss, his West German opposite number, in Bonn on December 2.

The “Daily Mail” said Britain had entered the bidding against the Americans for the profitable contract to supply Germany" with her first weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It added that preliminary details of this deal were worked out by defence experts of - the two countries when' the Chancellor, Dr. Adenauer, visited London last week. The “Daily Mail” said that Britain might supply West Germany with the Blue Water, a tactical surface-to-surface missile being developed by the English Electric Company. This missile, it added, could be tipped either with an atomic bomb or a conventional high explosive charge and was “extremely accurate over short ranges of up to about 100 miles.” According to the “Daily Mail,” Mr Watkinson is expected to discuss the possibility of the Germans having the Blue Water while the nuclear warheads are held on British charge. It would be a simple matter to supply and fit them in an emergency. West Germany wanted to buy a small number of Blue Water rockets and then follow up with a licence deal to manufacture their own. The reasons for the West German interest were given by the newspaper as:—

theatres and spares ’were near at hand. A growing inclination on the part of the Germans and Other European Powers to explore the possibilities of drawing Britain into a closer association in the supply of military equipment

The “News Chronicle,” referred to American hints that arms might no longer be supplied to the allies on “give-away terms.” It added: “These have so far kept British missiles out of the European market.

“But if the NA.T.O. countries have to start paying hard cash, the British missiles will have as good, or better, chances of selling than the United States equivalents.”

American concern the vast cost of arming her allies overseas and the possibility, of drastic cuts. The realisation that British weapons were specifically designed for the European