soddim
'------ export sales will soak up some of the costs incurred by cancellation of Tranche3?' On the contrary, most export monies disappear into Mr Brown's pot. But as the other 3 Nations are not overly involved, I doubt there'll be much in the way of contract cancellation penalties in any case.
Talk of 'cancellation' of Tranche3 is a little misplaced. Goodies planned for Tranche 3 will be candidates for UK's subsequent upgrade programmes. Now, how will that be financed? There are some interesting possibilities - the shared involovement of export partners could be one??