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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2236.PDF
DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENT SALES UK and EUROPE Display Advertising Enquiries +44(20)86523315 Display Advertising Fax +44 (20) 8652 8981 Advertisement Director Richard Thiele +44 (20) 8652 3319 Group Sales Manager +44(20)8652 3904 Sales and Events Co-ordinatorToniHowitt +44(20)8652 3315 Advertisement Production Display/Classified Howard Mason +44(20)8652 3267 UK, IRELAND, BENELUX, IBERIA, GREECE, THE MIDDLE EAST and ISRAEL, AFRICA GERMANY, SCANDINAVIA and EASTERN EUROPE Sales Manager Shawn Buck +44 (20) 8652 4998 Area Manager Warren McEwan +44 (20) 8652 3316 FRANCE and SWITZERLAND Sales Director France Pierre Mussard Tel +33 (1) 55 95 9513 Reed Business Information France, 2, rue Maurice Hartmann, 92133 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. 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Fax+653383213 COMMENT AUSTRALASIA Sales Director Grahame Gallagher Reed Business Information, Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue.Chatswood, NSW 2067 Business Manager CLASSIFIED & RECRUITMENT Classified Advertising Enquiries Classified Advertising Fax Group Advertisement Manager Ian Burke Advertisement Manager Katharine Bellamy International Sales Executives Catherine Harrison Toby Phelps Matthew Pullen Kerry Manolasses Daniel Sedman Classified Asia/Pacific Tan KayHui Classified/Recruitment USA US Classified Sales Director Gail Tavelman Classified/Recruitment Sales Louise Palme Traffic Manager Debbie Kolb Publisher Allan Winn Publisher's PA Lisa Jenkins x iignuiiit;* Tel (61 2)94222676 Fax (61 2)94222678 +44(20)86528825 +44(20)86523811 +44(20)86524802 +44(20)86528228 +44(20)86523811 +44(20)86524322 +44(20)86524896 +44(20)86524898 +44(20)86524897 +44(20)86524806 +654343303 +1(212)3707443 +1(703)8367445 lel+1 (212)3707446 +44(20)86523882 +44 (20) 8652 3882 The text of Right International and Airline Business can be found on the following databases: Lexis-Nexis, Knight-Ridder DataStar, FT Profile, IAC/ Predicasts, and Reuters. Details from: tel: +44 (20) 8652 8721.Published by Reed Business Information, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5AS, UK Right International is sold subject to the following conditions: namely, that it is not, without the written consent of the publishers first given, lent, re-soid, hired out or in any unauthorised cover by way of trade; or affixed to, or as part of, any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. The publishers of Right international are prepared to accept unsolicited material, but only on the understanding that such material is submitted wholly at the risk of the provider, and that the publishers cannot guarantee the receipt, safekeeping or return of non-commissioned work in any format, including manuscripts, digital data, photographic prints and transparencies. Flight international* is a registered trademark of Reed Business STEALTH SHACKLED THE US AIR FORCE has raised the stakes in its battle with Congress over production funding for tlie advanced air superiority fighter, the Boeing/Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, by hitching its future fate to that of the Joint Strike Fighter. With out the F-22, USAE says, it would have to rethink its require ment for the multirole JSF, potentially delay ing the international, 3,000-aircraft, $150 billion programme while the design is reworked to fulfil some of die F-22's mission. For the air force and US industry die can cellation of the US- only, 339 aircraft, $60-billion F-22 pro gramme would be devastating. The con sequences would reverberate for years, with few parallels other than perhaps the scrap ping of Canada's CF-105 Arrow fighter and the UK's TSR2 strike aircraft in the 1950s and 60s. Without the F-22, all JSF bets and assump tions are off, warns the USAF. Its willingness to offer the far largerJSF programme as a sacrificial lamb is indicative of the importance the USAF attaches to its "golden bullet" programme. The service would be left to soldier on with ageing Boeing F-15s and Lockheed Martin F-16s. In the USAF's mind there is simply nothing else in the pipeline to replace the F-15 but the F-22, other than perhaps the unlikely choice of the US Navy's Boeing F/A-18E/F or the unthinkable alternative of buying the European Typhoon. The F-22 is as expensive as the JSF will be cheap, and the USAF sees no obligation to take one without the other. In fact, it sees no way to have the JSF without the F-22. At $30 million a copy, the JSF will be an affordable attack aircraft because it does not have to perform the F-22's stealthy air-superiority mission, the service argues. To reduce costs, theJSF will also be heav ily reliant on sensor data from external sources, of which the F-22 will form an integral element. Then there is the technology argument. The low development risks that are implicit in the low production cost estimates for JSF are predicated on much of the technology that has been proven on the F-22 programme. Wthout die F-22, the USAF says, JSF risks -and costs - FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 August 1999 "Unfortunately, it would be US pilots left to put the theory to the test, not Congressmen voting in the interests of pork- barrel politics. " must be expected to increase exponentially. While the USAF may be prepared to scrap the JSF in the hope of getting something better, and with the USN clearly able to sail on for now with the new F/A-18E/F, the major loser in all this would be the US Marine Corps. With a requirement to replace its Boeing AV-8Bs and F/A-18s, and unable or unwilling to afford the upgraded F/A-18E/F, the future of Marine Corps aviation would rest precariously on a possible Harrier III. The UK is also rely ing on the JSF to re place its Harriers, although it would have more fall-back options, including a carrier version of the Eurofighter, naval Dassault Rafale, F/A- 18E/F or a Harrier HI. The other casualty of an F-22 cancellation and USAF change of direction on JSF would be the US aerospace industry. While there no doubt would be short- term consolations in the form of additional F-15 and F-16 orders, robbed of the F-22 and JSF, Boeing and Lockheed Martin would be left with nothing downstream. The international fighter market would be left wide open to European manufacturers. The likes of the Netherlands, Singapore and Turkey would be justified in ask ing for a refund of down payments for participa tion in theJSF, and could be expected to look to the Rafale and Typhoon to meet their future fighter requirements. The USAF has been a victim of its own suc cesses in the skies over Iraq and Yugoslavia. Overwhelming air superiority has not just kept enemy fighters on the ground, but led politicians on Capital Hill to openly question the need for a $ 100 million stealth fighter when, at the quarter of the price, the F-16 would appear to suffice. Whether potential adversaries in 10-20 years time will be similarly cowed into submission by 1970s-era fighters is open to debate. Would Saddam or Milosevic have reacted in the same manner if confronted with an armada of Vietnam-era F-4s and A-4s? Unfortunately, it would be US pilots left to put the theory to the test, not Congressmen grandstanding on appropriation committees or voting in the inter ests of pork-barrel politics. •
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