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FARNBOROUGH, England, July 11 (Reuters) - Britain's vote toleave the European Union is not expected to fundamentally alterits ties with the U.S. military or weapons-related trade, thePentagon's chief arms buyer said.
U.S. Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall said it was tooearly to assess specific trade impacts since it would take along time to formalise Britain's exit from the EU, but he didnot foresee a big impact on the strong bilateral relationship.
"I don't see any reason why it should fundamentally affectour relationship with the UK or our business deals with the UK,"Kendall said.
He said he hoped the decision would not affect Britain'srequirements for military equipment since it would remain a keypartner in NATO.
U.S. arms makers, most of which have big offices in London,are keeping a close on the situation, and some are nowconsidering setting up offices in other parts of Europe.
U.S. government and industrial officials say they do notexpect a significant short-term impact on the Lockheed MartinCorp F-35 fighter jet programme, despite the fact thatUK firms builds about 15 percent of the content of the plane.
Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, who runs the F-35programme for the Pentagon, told reporters this weekend that hisoffice was carefully assessing any potential impact on trade andtariffs stemming from Britain's vote to leave the EU.
A drop in the value of the British pound could helplower some costs.
At the same time, the lower pound could affect Britain'sability to afford new equipment, industry executives said.
Britain's top defence procurement official Philip Dunne lastweek said he did not expect the drop in the currency to have abig impact on the F-35 program since the ministry had hedged itscurrency rates weeks before the vote.
Bogdan said the F-35 program office also engaged in currencyhedging to some extent, which would partially, but notcompletely, mitigate the impact of the drop in the UK currency.
Jeff Babione, Lockheed's F-35 program manager, also said hedid not foresee any near-term effect on the cost of the jets.
"In the near term I don't see anything that would affect theaffordability of the F-35," he told reporters last week. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Potter)