THE HAGUE, 03/05/06 - Labour (PvdA) intends to abandon the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project, if the party makes it into the next government. As PvdA MP Luuk Blom stated in weekly magazine Intermediair, "not a single JSF will be bought under PvdA government. It is to be a firm issue in our election programme".

From 2012, the Defence Ministry wishes to take on the first of 85 fighter-bombers of type F-35 JSF. These are to replace the current F-16s. The aircraft order involves an amount of six billion euros. According to the PvdA, however, the JSF business plan is built on shaky foundations and the JSFs will turn out extremely expensive.

Blom: "Based on the plan knocked together in 2000, the Netherlands invested 850 million dollars in the project (...). The idea was that the Americans would in turn support Dutch industry in general but in actual fact almost all the orders have gone to one company, namely Stork. Basically, we are giving veiled government support to that company".

At the end of this year, the Defence Ministry is to sign an agreement with the US regarding the production, maintenance and continued development of the JSF aircraft. Blom does admit that he does not know whether the PvdA could still annul this contract if the present cabinet agrees to it before May 2007.

According to the American Audit Office, the JSFs now cost 110 million dollars each. In Intermediair, John van den Heuvel of the Dutch Defence Manufacturers Association (NIID) still estimates the cost for the Dutch JSF at 45 million euros. Blom refuses to believe this. He says the PvdA will not economise on defence, but will strive for "more far-reaching European specialisation of tasks".