British Sign Up for ‘Star Wars’ : Agreement Opens Way for Others to Join Project

After months of delicate negotiations, Britain joined Friday in President Reagan’s controversial Strategic Defense Initiative research program, becoming the first U.S. ally to agree to participate.

Britain’s decision is expected to make it politically easier for Washington to persuade other European allies, among them West Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, to join in the program.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and his British counterpart, Michael Heseltine, signed a memorandum of understanding that they said would lead to “substantial awards” to British companies under the $26-billion research program known as “Star Wars.”

The final details were agreed to only Friday morning, enabling Weinberger to sign the agreement on a stopover here en route to Washington from the Continent.

Weinberger told a press conference that important SDI research contracts will now go to British firms but offered no details. Heseltine said the agreement will create “significant numbers of jobs.”

‘The Project Is Deluded’

But leaders of the Britain’s principal opposition, the Labor Party, condemned the agreement, saying it will touch off a brain drain to the United States of British scientists.

Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock said: “The project is deluded, destabilizing and dangerous. It is the British technologists that the United States wants, not British technology.

“Every day in her relations with President Reagan, Mrs. (Margaret) Thatcher makes herself less like the prime minister of Britain and more like the governor of the 51st state of the union.”

British technology, especially in such key areas as laser research and optic computers, is expected to give new impetus to the program.

But other factors make Britain’s decision to join the program more important politically than technically. For one thing, it provides the first tangible link between the United States and its European allies on an issue that some have maintained might destroy the alliance.

European Concerns

Europeans have expressed concern that the basic concept of putting up a shield against Soviet missiles would be more of a defense against the long-range Soviet weapons capable of reaching the United States than against the shorter-range missiles aimed at Europe.

This concern persists, and Britain’s decision to take part appeared to have been motivated more by the opportunity to broaden its technological base than by enthusiasm for the concept of SDI. But British involvement symbolizes a European stake in the project.

In West Germany, for example, one party in the coalition government has consistently opposed involvement unless other European countries take part. On Friday, a government spokesman in Bonn said Britain’s decision “will certainly play a role for us, because the federal government has always said that in no circumstances would we want to be alone.”

The West German Cabinet is expected to decide within the next three weeks whether to begin negotiations on taking part in the program.

Moscow condemned the British decision. The Soviet news agency Tass called it “a dangerous step for Britain.”

18 Specific Areas

Under the terms of the understanding, British companies and research centers will be permitted to compete for contracts in 18 specific areas in which British technology is believed to be either competitive with or superior to U.S. technology. These areas include certain aspects of laser technology, infrared sensors and high-speed fiber optic computers.

In a report to Parliament on the understanding, Heseltine said an SDI Participation Office will be established in the Ministry of Defense to coordinate British involvement.

Heseltine had pushed for a specific U.S. commitment of at least $1.5 billion in contracts in return for participation, but the agreement, still confidential, reportedly contains no figure.

Heseltine expressed satisfaction Friday about the scale of British participation set out in the understanding, and Weinberger mentioned that there would be “major awards” of contracts to the British.

Weinberger said that a number of contracts are pending that touch on Britain’s areas of expertise, and added, “We want them to be able to bid on these.”

Much of the understanding reportedly deals with the division of rights between the two countries to any new technology that might emerge from U.S.-financed research carried out in Britain.

Heseltine and Weinberger both declined to say how these fruits might be shared. They said the interests of both countries will have to be taken into account.

Based on ‘Mutual Trust’

A British Ministry of Defense official said later that there was “no clear language--it hinged on a certain amount of mutual trust.”

After signing the understanding, Weinberger told reporters that the SDI research program is progressing faster than had been expected. He cited as an example successful tests of laser beams in various weather conditions that removed doubts about their ability to function in bad weather.

However, some U.S. scientists, referring to tests conducted last March, said that instruments used at the time did not accurately measure the laser’s intensity and warned that the results should not be used to determine the success of the experiment.

Weinberger emphasized that SDI research is aimed at building a defensive system that can protect not only the United States but its allies as well.

“Our only goal,” he said, “is the ability to destroy nuclear missiles rather than people.”

Weinberger also said that the Soviet Union has recently deployed 27 new SS-25 long-range missiles, a development he described as a violation of the 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT II.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies describes the SS-25 as a replacement for SS-11s and SS-13s that were first deployed in the 1960s.