JSF project running into trouble!

Britain in battle with US over fighter plane
Peter Almond and Dominic O'Connell



BRITAIN is threatening to pull out of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a co-operative combat-aircraft project with America that is one of the largest military programmes in the world.
The move, confirmed to The Sunday Times by senior defence officials, could have serious repercussions for BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, Britain’s two main contributors to the project.



BAE is part of the consortium developing the plane, and had expected revenues of about $24 billion (£13.8 billion) in development and production contracts.

Rolls-Royce is developing the lift fan for the vertical take-off version, and is working with its American rival, General Electric, on an alternative engine for the aircraft.

The JSF is a versatile plane aimed at replacing several types of aircraft currently in use, and could achieve total sales of more than $300 billion, according to some forecasts.

While the development is being driven by the Pentagon, it is being built by a multinational team in which Britain is the sole “Tier One†partner. The government has already provided $2 billion in development funding, and had been slated to buy 150 aircraft for the RAF and Royal Navy.

But Britain is now threatening to withdraw after rows over the Pentagon’s reluctance to agree to the transfer of technology, and because of likely increases in the price of each plane.

According to senior Ministry of Defence officials, instructions have been given for alternative strategies for projects affected by American technology- transfer problems, the most important of which is the JSF.

Dropping the JSF would stun the defence industry, but a senior official told The Sunday Times it was time to “think the unthinkableâ€. “I know how the Americans negotiate,†said the official. “They will not do a deal unless they know the other side has a serious alternative. It’s like a high-stakes poker game . . . it’s essential to have a Plan B because it’s very important not to travel in hope.â€

The JSF was to have equipped the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers. The “Plan B†being worked on is a version of the Eurofighter Typhoon adapted for the navy. The Typhoon recently entered service with the RAF after long delays and cost overruns.

Defence-industry sources say negotiations on the “Tranche 3†Eurofighter contract, under which Britain will take the last 88 of the 232 orders, now encompassed the issues needed to be addressed to make the aircraft fly from a carrier.

Sources close to the Eurofighter programme say there are no major obstacles to the operation, although some elements of the carrier design would have to be changed.

BAE Systems is likely to stand behind the government’s tough line on the negotiations with the Americans. The company is eager to secure more defence technology to allow it to play a full role in the JSF programme if it continues.

But Rolls-Royce could be an early casualty. Defence-industry sources in Washington said last week that the US budget row could threaten funding for the F-136 engine that it is developing in conjunction with General Electric.

Click to expand...

The Pentagon has rejected a proposal to cancel one of three variants of the tri-service F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a defense expert said Dec. 1.

Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England suggested canceling the Air Force conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version of JSF and directing the Air Force to buy the Navy carrier variant (CV) instead (DAILY, Nov. 21). But at a Nov. 21 meeting with service secretaries, service chiefs and other high-level officials, England's proposal was rebuffed, partly because there was no evidence it would save money, said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, who has talked with senior government officials about the deliberations.

The Air Force still plans to cut the number of Lockheed Martin-built F-35s it will buy from 1,763 to about 1,100, Thompson said. The Marine Corps, which is pursuing the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, and the Navy have already reduced their combined purchase by several hundred jets.

Officials at the Nov. 21 meeting also agreed to stretch out production of F/A-22 Raptors by two years, Thompson said. Funding to build about 180 of the Lockheed Martin jets for the Air Force now will be completed in fiscal 2010, instead of FY '08 as previously planned. The Air Force wants to avoid closing its only next-generation fighter production line before it is certain that JSF will materialize.

"They call it a bridge," Thompson told The DAILY. The Air Force believes it "should have at least one line for next-generation fighters."

Decisions at the Nov. 21 meeting will be formalized in a series of program budget decisions (PBDs) and program decision memorandums (PDMs) between now and Dec. 23, when the structure of the budget will be locked into place, Thompson said.

SBIRS-High review

On a separate track, DOD continues to look at whether the Air Force's missile-warning Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) should be restructured or canceled due to cost overruns, Thompson said. Reviewers have looked at about three dozen options, most of which involve changing satellite content or the production schedule.

The most likely outcome is that DOD will stick with the current system, which is far along in its development and will meet a high-priority need, Thompson said. Even scaling back SBIRS-High's capabilities would be hard to do at this late stage, he said.

DOD is supposed to tell Congress by Dec. 13 whether it wants to continue the Lockheed Martin-built system in its current form (DAILY, Nov. 28).

Click to expand...

WASHINGTON - The development of the JSF, in which the Netherlands have also invested 857 million euro, might be cut short. The Pentagon has serious plans to stop development of this plane in part or even completely. Budget cuts at the US MoD are the reason for this.

The American secretary of defence has told this to his Dutch collegue, Cees van der Knaap, according to todays edition of De Telegraaf. A spokesperson of the Dutch ministry of economic affairs has confirmed that the Americans might pull out.

The American reconsideration on the JSF project is the consequence of budget cuts for the defence department. The expendiures in Iraq, unforeseen expenses due to the hurricane and dissappointing interest for the JSF are part of he reason. Earlier Norway had announced it was reconsidering its participation on the project, because Norwegian companies where not getting the expected compensation orders.

The Netherlands has reserved 857 million euros for the JSF project. In the 2de kamer (comparable with house of commons) the opinions on the JSF where divided. In the end the "house of commons" choose to join the poject, expecting compensation orders of 8 to 10 billion euros.

The Americans will decide on the JSF program late february.

Click to expand...