Thatcher Reportedly Chooses U.S. AWACS Over British Plane

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet defense committee decided Wednesday to buy American AWACS planes instead of the British-made Nimrod early warning radar plane, Thames Television reported.

The Overseas and Defense Policy Committee, chaired by Thatcher, decided Wednesday night to reject the Nimrod and to buy U.S. AWACS (airborne warning and command system) planes, the television report said. The full Cabinet today is expected to endorse the politically sensitive decision to buy the Boeing aircraft, it added.

Defense Secretary George Younger is expected to make a public announcement later today to Parliament, which is planning to hold a three-hour emergency debate on the issue tonight.

A spokesman for Thatcher declined comment on the report.

Earlier Wednesday, a source close to Thatcher said that the prime minister would be “sad and upset” if she had to buy American rather than British but that she had to make her decision based on the best technology available.

“The government would like to buy British and would never buy foreign if it were convinced that its own national product not only worked but was the best,” the source, who declined to be identified, said.

“Of course we will be sad and upset, but in the end you have to do the best for the country. You have to act in the national interest,” the source said.

On Tuesday, Thatcher said: “We must be certain that the system which is chosen will meet the country’s defense requirements fully and within an acceptable time scale.”

Boeing says there are more than 50 AWACS--Boeing 707 airplanes rigged with giant radar domes--in service around the world, while the Nimrod first flew on Aug. 17. Despite London’s investment so far of $1.2 billion in the Nimrod project, it has been plagued by problems.

But the Nimrod manufacturer, British electronics giant General Electric, has said the plane and its radar are now working satisfactorily.

Opponents of purchasing the U.S. planes say such a decision would lead to the loss of at least 2,500 British jobs and increase the country’s dependence on U.S. military hardware.

It is expected that the British will order about 11 planes worth some $1 billion.