ARIE EGOZI / TEL AVIV
Last-ditch plea likely to fail as Australia gets set to sign
The Israeli defence ministry is making a final pitch to join the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme as an industrial partner, but the US Department of Defense isinsisting the only category for new admissions is as a Security Co-operation Participant (SCP). Australia, meanwhile, is set to sign up on 31 October as a Level 3 partner, making it the ninth nation to join the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase.
Tel Aviv is pushing for an ad hoc agreement to give the Israeli air force and industry more access to the programme than possible under the SCP structure. The deal would, however, provide less than Level 3 participation, which includes a risk and revenue sharing stake and full- time representation within the JSF Programme Office (JPO).
Australia is set to become the fifth Level 3 partner at the end of the month, with a $175 million contribution, after which the JPO says no more partners will be admitted as the Lockheed Martin F-35 is now a year into SDD and nearing a preliminary design review. Already on board at the same level are Canada, Denmark, Norway and Turkey, while Italy and the Netherlands are both Level 2 participants, with the UK as the only Level 1 partner.
In March this year Israel asked to become a Level 3 partner, after participating in the concept demonstration phase (CDP) as a fourth-tier foreign military sales (FMS) participant. Israel was not one of the countries originally invited to join SDD by former US defence undersecretary for acquisition and technology Dr Jacques Gansler. Despite the Israeli defence ministry promising to make $150-200 million available for the programme, the JPO says it missed the 15 July deadline to negotiate a deal.
Israeli sources suggest other JSF partner nations are less than enthusiastic about Israel's participation, fearing this could result in more configuration changes to the F-35 design to accommodate local systems and weapons. The Israeli defence ministry says: "In the recent talks in Washington the two sides decided to continue the negotiations to find the right formula."
The JPO, however, says "nothing is going on outside SCP". Similar participation is being offered to Singapore, which was also an FMS player during CDP. As an SCP participant, Israel would be provided with a core data package and would be able to order specific modelling and simulation studies.
Additional reporting by Paul Lewis in Washington Dc
Source: Flight International
