Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
The US Department of Defense (DoD) has launched a review of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) technology with the aim of establishing export guidelines.
The move follows Flight International's report that the DoD is reviewing whether the information provided by Boeing to Australia as part of its winning bid for the country's Project Wedgetail AEW&C programme breached restrictions on release of technology (Flight International, 11-17 August).
In a letter sent to Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon in August, the DoD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) asked the companies for copies of all AEW&C briefings, presentations, materials and proposals provided to countries other than Australia since January 1995. The three companies had already provided copies of the Wedgetail technical proposals in response to a February request from the DTRA.
The latest letter says: "The recent Australian Wedgetail competition has generated significant interest within the [DoD] regarding the export of [AEW&C] aircraft systems." As a result, it says, the DoD "is conducting a thorough review of AEW&C system technology and capabilities". This will include an assessment of the level of AEW&C capability already offered to other countries.
The letter shows the review is being conducted as a matter of urgency and the companies have been given a deadline of 10 September to respond.
The DoD has denied it is investigating Boeing for a possible breach of low-observable/counter low-observable technology export controls during the Wedgetail competition. According to the Pentagon, only the US Department of State's Office of Defense Trade Controls can investigate export licence violations. The State Department says it cannot comment on investigations.
Although the DoD says the DTRA collects information from companies as a normal part of the export licensing process, industry sources say the agency's requests in the case of Wedgetail were unusual given that the programme involves the direct commercial sale of AEW&C systems to Australia.
While it may fall short of a formal investigation, at least as defined by the Departments of Defense and State, the DTRA review appears to have gone well beyond any normal procedures.
Explaining why the DoD has launched a review of AEW&C technology, the latest DTRA letter says: "The ultimate goal is to establish AEW&C technology export guidelines that will assist both DoD reviewers and industry business planning strategies."
Boeing confirms that it supplied the Wedgetail data requested by DTRA earlier this year, and says it will comply with the agency's latest request.
Meanwhile, Boeing says it has received a licence and submitted its bid for Turkey's AEW&C competition, for which it is offering the same 737-based system selected by Australia.
Source: Flight International
