LOCKHEED MARTIN is to formally guarantee the UK Ministry of Defence that choosing the Orion 2000 to meet its £2 billion ($3 million) British Aerospace Nimrod MR2 replacement will result in a minimum UK industrial participation of 20% in any exports.
With high-level UK equipment-approval committees due to recommend a contractor for the replacement maritime-patrol aircraft by early June, all three remaining contenders - BAe/Boeing, with the Nimrod 2000; Lockheed Martin/GEC, offering the Orion 2000; and Loral, with refurbished Orion P-3A/Bs - are stepping up their campaigns.
Sources close to the competition say that Lockheed Martin is expected to submit a written guarantee to the UK Ministry of Defence covering a baseline 20% UK industrial involvement in any export sale of the Orion 2000. The company estimates that there is an export market for at least 150 aircraft by 2015.
The company is also lobbying the US Navy to come out in support of the Orion 2000 as the replacement for its P-3s. This could result in an order for up to 170 aircraft, beginning around 2005.
Loral believes that it has the most cost-competitive offer, built around refurbishing 25 Lockheed P-3A/Bs now in storage. It is also trying to talk up a potential export market, saying that Germany and Italy have been briefed on the aircraft. It also views Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates as potential customers for refurbished aircraft.
With Lockheed Martin, completing its take-over of Loral, the US company has had to give the UK, a guarantee that it will not interfere with the Loral bid - even though the bid is unpopular within Lockheed Martin.
The two sides have already become embroiled in a row over the availability of technical data required by Loral to modify the airframe. Loral, which has become Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems, claims that it has the data, while the parent company says that it does not have access to the required proprietary information.
Source: Flight International