Defence

Northrop Grumman president and chief executive Ronald Sugar intends to use his chairmanship of the US Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) to lobby for extensive reform of US export control laws, citing subsidies and technology transfer on the Lockheed Martin 
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as key areas of concern.

“There is no doubt that some export control laws and regulations currently in force on my side of the Atlantic were established during the Cold War for reasons that no longer apply,” he says, singling out the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) as “discouraging foreign co-operation”.

Sugar told Flight International last week: “We increasingly recognise that commerce and aerospace is global. We also recognise the critical importance of working with the companies of our allies on critical national security matters. Our view is quite similar to that within the Department of Defense, which is that we need to streamline and modernise the mechanics.

“There are those in Con­gress who might want to continue ‘Buy America’, but it’s not the general view of our industry, which is: modernise export control and do not put in place restrictive Buy America legislation. This is a global supply base. To be competitive, we need to rely upon global access.”

Sugar is hopeful that current export control problems related to the JSF programme can be resolved before Washington’s international partners must sign a production- phase memorandum of understanding in December. While Congress is unlikely to approve a blanket ITAR waiver, he says: “I think there is room within the existing legislation to make it a lot better.”

CRAIG HOYLE / LONDON

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