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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2767.PDF
$*- The strategic best-value plan has been slow to take off Since then Lockheed Martin has been working to get strategic best-value on track. It says none of the offers for such work has yet been rejected, but only one contract had been signed by late October. Strategic best-value offers no panacea for the workshare ills that dog the interna tional participants. "This is a very, very small fraction [of awards] that has gone this way," says Haskell. "It's almost not worth the attention it's getting in terms of its value to the programme, but it can be very significant in terms of its political impact." The revised workshare goals are a long way from the lofty industrial objectives that initially spurred eight nations to pledge a combined $4.5 billion investment. Lockheed Martin estimates show each of its partners should be assured of recouping their SDD investments by 2012, but the timing of partnership agreements and a long delay in approving a programme-wide export control licence have limited business opportunities for new suppliers. Seven of the eight partners signed up after 95% of the major system contracts was awarded to US or UK suppliers, says Lockheed Martin. Lower-tier contracts for machining and build-to-print work was almost all that remained. Canada became the first country to sign, in February 2002. Five more countries joined between May and July of that year. Australia was the last to sign, in October 2002. Since then, Israel has joined at a lower level as a security co-operation par ticipant and Singapore is close to a similar agreement - but neither are eligible for partnership-level support on workshare. Cosentino says that Australian, Italian, Danish, Dutch and UK design engineers working on JSF integrated product teams in the USA are important elements of tech nology transfer. However, after coming on board, non-US suppliers often found that some bidding opportunities were lost as a result of data transfer restrictions. Standard licensing reviews also moved too slowly for companies to turn around bids in Lockheed Martin's 30-day windows. The promise of global project authorisa tion (GPA), allowing free transfer of data between pre-approved parties during the bidding process, was held back by Lockheed Martin's legal concerns over lia bility issues. It was approved early this year, but has suffered from lack of use. By mid-October, the GPA had been invoked only 20 times to speed data transfer requests on contract opportunities. GPA shortcomings Despite the potential of GPA, the measure has fallen short. It can be used for only around a third of the bidding opportunities, as classified or protected technologies or information are excluded from the author ity. Also, it does not not extend beyond the bidding process, leaving some companies disappointed at an inability to sustain long- term relationships after bidding ends. The strictness of the export control regime was clear when US state depart ment regulators moved to block a request to transfer data between BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin on short take-off and ver tical landing technology. Cosentino had to tell the State Department: "We're not exporting data - we're importing it." If the international partners were slow to adapt to the JSF business model, US primes have also been slow in accepting the international supply chain concept. When GPA was not available, contacts bet ween US and overseas suppliers were inconsistent and restrictive. "Sometimes it's easier to go down the street than shop all over town for the best price," says Steven Briggs, Northrop Grum man vice-president and F-35 programme manager. He learned in October that his own staff were not taking account of GPA access when determining strengths of rival bids - that has now been corrected. • logistics and programme development services to JSF consortium. JSF programme manager Tom Burbage wins Right Internationats Aerospace Industry Personality of the Year award. MARCH 2002 US Navy confirms review of total numbers of JSFs to be acquired by Navy and Marine Corps under way. The Pentagon says impact on total orders will be minimal before 2012. Israel announces it will join programme as Level 3 partner Turkey announces intention to join as Level 3 partner rather than Level 2 as originally planned. Stork Aerospace contracted by Lockheed Martin to carry out initial development of JSF external doors and wiring harness. Nederlands Centrum voor Laser Research contracted by Pratt & Whitney to drill holes for the F135 engine. Dassault and IBM selected by Lockheed to supply computer-aided design and manufacturing software for JSF virtual development environment. GKN Aerospace and BAE Systems announce partnership for design and production of JSF airframe components. Lockheed Martin appoints Mike Cosentino as director of JSF international programmes. APRIL 2002 Electronic-attack JSF variant offered by Lockheed Martin as a potential Northrop Grumman EA-6 replacement. H M Dunn, Progressive and Thayer Aerospace selected by Lockheed Martin to machine aluminium airframe components for JSR Avionics Specialities selected by Lockheed Martin to provide JSF air data system. BAE Systems Avionics selected by Lockheed Martin to provide active Inceptor subsystem (pilot side stick and throttle controls) for JSF Lockheed Martin-led industrial team visits Australia to promote programme membership. Australian government defers decision on JSF membership until June, amid cost concerns. Dutch government delays formalising JSF programme membership until June to allow for new ratification vote in Dutch parliament after initial vote is tied. Denmark signs as Level 3 system development and demonstration (SDD) member, with investment worth $125 million. Italian government announces it will join as Level 2 SDD member. Parliamentary approvals are in place by end of month. Lockheed-led JSF industrial team visits Australia to brief on programme opportunities. Senior RAAF programme officials tell UK air power conference that no source selection will be made on a replacement fighter until 2006. Senior Australian military officials visit JSF programme office to receive classified brief on programme participation and JSF capabilities. USN announces it intends to reduce its JSF order by 400 aircraft from an original base of 1,089. US Air Force says it would reconsider size of its orders if the USN reduction leads to programme cost increases. USMC says it wants the JSF STOVL version www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT 25 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2003 vll
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