But he is likely to be disappointed: no consensus exists for a really ambitious defence project in Europe.
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The defence project, one of Europe's largest, will create 10, 000 jobs.
Many EU leaders object to America's planned National Missile Defence project and the U.S. has made clear its worries that the EU's new rapid reaction force could undermine NATO.
As the most expensive defence project ever undertaken starts to come to fruition, the BBC has been given exclusive access to the world's most advanced fighter jet, the Joint Strike Fighter or F-35.
Congress, however, is still blocking Britain's access to software codes which could threaten to curtail severely British industrial participation in what will be the world's biggest defence-procurement project.
It has agreed to host the radar component of a proposed NATO nuclear missile defence shield, a project that is aimed mainly at Iran, with which Turkey has a tricky relationship.
It also further undermines a pet French project for common European defence.
Officially unveiled in July, the flood defence pumps are part of a project that included earth embankments and a series of sluice gates.
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They also question the utility of UNASUL and its first project, a South American Defence Council.
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But his defence that it was "a huge project, one of the biggest the country will see" was dismissed by London mayor Ken Livingstone as "nonsense" suggesting it could be ready as soon as 2010.
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But a Ministry of Defence spokesman said they were committed to the project.
According to Swedish national radio, the country's Defence Research Agency (FOI) led the project to build weapons including missiles and torpedoes.
More than 34, 000 people had signed the petition, saying the project would spur job creation and strengthen defence.
The scheme, which would protect the city centre, replaces a more expensive project shelved after government cuts to flood defence budgets in 2011.
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The work is part of a bigger project which has included a new sea defence structure further along the seafront to stop the sand being washed away in future.
The panel - organised by The Truman National Security Project - featured a couple of former defence officials from the Clinton administration (former Defence Secretary William Perry and former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig), both of whom have been acting as advisers to the Obama campaign.
The same imbalance applies now in the Balkans, notwithstanding last year's strategic defence review, which argued for retaining an ability to project British power overseas.
The year-long project will also look at the history of civil defence preparations in Norwich, and the involvement of volunteers in the Civil Defence Corps.
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With the new Bonn government committed to a defence review, Vickers and other disappointed candidates wonder if the whole project might be reconsidered, creating an opportunity for an all-British or a Franco-British armoured car.
Having opted out of the Eurofighter project in 1985, France's determination to go it alone in defence matters has led to the spectacle of two expensive European combat planes competing for the same big contract.
James Baker of BAE, who is working on the project, says defeating IEDs is now the operational priority for Britain's defence ministry.
Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram has said the UK government's investment in the project will be recovered by the time fast jet work finishes in 2007 - even thought the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is pulling out earlier than planned.
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