POLARIS DEAL Dispute Over Sharing Cost

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30042, 29 January 1963, Page 13

POLARIS DEAL Dispute Over Sharing Cost

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

NEW YORK, January 27.

Britain has refused a request from the United States for a 43,000,000-dollar contribution toward the further development of the Polaris missile, according to a “New York Times” news report from London. Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet is to be armed with the missiles.

Two meetings between American and British officials, the second in London last week, have failed to resolve the issue. It will be negotiated again soon at another meeting in Washington. Qualified American sources said the issue arose because neither side apparently made its position clear at the Nassau meeting between President Kennedy and the British Prime Minister. Mr Macmillan The agreement to sell Britain the Polaris as a replacement for the Skybolt air-to-ground missile was worked out at Nassau The United States has budgeted 350,000 000 dollars as the cost of further development to perfect a longerranee Polaris missile known as A-3 Britain has been asked to contribute one-eighth of this sum. according to the report The British case put to the United States in the negotiations held since the Nassau meeting is that they understood they were getting the missiles at their estimated cost up to January 1, 1963 about 1000 000 dollars each The American negotiators reportedly said that President Kennedy had offered the Polaris on the same basis as h had offered to continue development of Skybolt, with Britain sharing in further costs

Britain is expected to get about one-eighth of the planned production of A-3 Polaris missiles This, at least was the basis Washington has used in determiner what Britain should con-

tribute to further research and development, the “New York Times”' report said. The British are fighting to keep their costs as low as passible because one of the arguments being used against the Nassau pact is that it committed the country to a defence burden it cannot afford No official estimates have been made public, but there have been “educated” guesses that the Polaris programme, based on six submarines, will cost Britain nearly 1000 million dollars As a result of the “technical’’ talks held with the United States since the Nassau meeting, the British Government reportedly now hopes to have its Polaris submarines fleet in being by the end of 1966 four years earlier than originally estimated In Washington. State Department sources today acknowldeged that some British negotiators may have been surprised by some of the cost details of the United States - British agreement whereby Britain would buy American Polaris missiles. They were commenting on a London press report that “an astonishing misunderstanding” between President Kennedy and Mr Macmillan, had led to a dispute over the missiles’ cost

The sources said that while British officials may have been surprised by some cost details, to describe it as an “astonishing misunderstanding" would be an exaggeration and distortion of the facts

They said there had never been any question among the leaders on either side that Britain would share in meeting any future development of the Polaris system but not in past development expenses