The French plans were undated but appeared to have been prepared in 1989 or 1990. They focused on research breakthroughs and marketing strategies of U.S. aerospace and defense contractors that compete directly with French firms. They also sought advance knowledge of the bargaining positions of American negotiators in trade talks involving France.
The list rates U.S. technical and commercial targets from 1 to 3. Top priority generally is given to U.S. companies competing against government- controlled French aerospace and defense firms.
One target, ranked a 2, was General Electric Co.'s satellite technology, including sensors, software, propellants, and power and navigation systems. Those products are either produced or assembled into satellites at the Valley Forge and East Windsor, N.J., plants of GE's former Astro Space unit. That unit is one of the G.E. businesses acquired by Martin Marietta Corp. April 2.
Another 2-ranked target was technology and marketing plans for the V-22 Osprey, the Boeing Co. tilt-rotor aircraft that is partly assembled at Boeing's Delaware County plant. Aerospatiale, the French-government-owned aircraft maker, has a 46 percent interest in Eurofar, the consortium developing a tilt-rotor aircraft that would compete with the Osprey.
Asked about the document, a French Embassy spokesman in Washington conferred with officials in Paris and then replied: "There is nothing in this document to indicate that it was released by French government offices."
Other U.S. secrets that appear to have been the target of the French include:
