THE HAGUE, 29/05/08 - The Labour (PvdA) coalition party does not appear to want to create a crisis over the cabinet's decision to participate in the next phase of the Joint Strike Fighter. This means the Lower House is likely to back the purchase of these US fighter aircraft by the Netherlands.

Defence State Secretary Jack de Vries wants to promise the aircraft builder, Lockheed Martin, that the Netherlands along with other customers will together take a guaranteed 1,000 JSF aircraft. If the Netherlands and the other customers promise this, the manufacturer is prepared to set a fixed price in which the development costs are more fairly divided between the customers, the state secretary said in the Lower House.

De Vries did not yet wish to say how many JSFs he wants to purchase. In the corridors, there is talk of 57 aircraft. These are in due course to replace the F-16 fleet.

The cabinet agreed in the coalition accord - a very rigid document - that it will make a decision on the purchase of a "first batch" of JSF aircraft during the current administrative period to 2011. The decision is expected to be made in 2010.

PvdA was previously an opponent of the JSF but feels itself bound by the coalition accord. On Tuesday evening, the PvdA did demand an external investigation of alternatives to the JSF. But yesterday, it no longer found this necessary.

De Vries does support an investigation, but not by external experts. PvdA MP Angeline Eijsink reluctantly agreed that the Christian democrat (CDA) state secretary would carry out the study himself. She "trusts" that De Vries is in a position to guarantee the independence of the research.

Eijsink wants De Vries to investigate seven alternative fighter aircraft, of which the Eurofighter is one. But Eijsink did not want to name the other six aircraft. De Vries reacted with irritation. He said he expected the House to know what it was talking about.

The House will vote today on the question and on De Vries' wish to participate in the test phase of the JSF. He wants to sign a declaration of intend this month for the purchase of two test aircraft for 274 million euros.

The Socialist Party (SP), leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) and Party for Freedom (PVV) are opposed to Dutch participation in the test phase. The CDA, conservatives (VVD) and small Christian parties ChristenUnie and SGP are in favour. The PvdA's support is essential for this participation.