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Controversy on JSF Technology Hides Grab for Work-Share |
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(Source: defense-aerospace.com; issued March 24, 2006)
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by Giovanni de Briganti
PARIS --- The ongoing debate about JSF-related technology transfer is a smoke screen designed to deflect attention from some countries’ attempts to obtain a larger share of production work, according to some European officials closely involved in the program.
This is the reason most partners have not made a crucial issue of technology transfer, even though they all face the same constraints on access to software source codes and other proprietary technology, the officials said.
“The controversy about source codes that is being played out in the media is a negotiating ploy,” an Italian official told defense-aerospace.com. “But it’s a fairy tale: nobody can realistically expect to have total access to those codes, and especially not for free. Source codes are the very core of any program’s intellectual property, and as such are naturally closely guarded by their owners.”
The official said that buyers of the Joint Strike Fighter will be able to operate the aircraft with only limited access to the source codes, so focusing the debate on full access is “part of a game of give-and-take in industrial negotiations.” He noted that the Italian air force does not have full access to German-developed source codes for the Tornado fighter-bombers it has operated for decades, and that Brazil operates its AMX fighters without having access to its Italian-developed flight control software codes. This has not hampered operations, nor support, nor even upgrades, he said.
That is not to say that there are no technology issues to be resolved. “Very interestingly, [from] the representatives of the U.K., Italy and Australia, I hear a strong, unified voice of concern, complaint, even grievance, about the question of technology transfer, and I think you're right,” Senator Joseph Lieberman, a member of the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee, said during a March 14 hearing on the JSF program, according to a transcript obtained by defense-aerospace.com.
Australian and Italian officials appearing before the committee stressed that their primary concerns were that the program remain on cost and on schedule, and that by comparison all other aspects are secondary.
Some JSF partner countries are optimistic that an acceptable compromise can be reached on the source code issue. “Italy, like the other program participants, is discussing with the United States various options to establish a regional capability for ‘software reprogramming’ in Europe,” Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Bernardis, head of Research and Development programs at the Italian Ministry of Defense, told defense-aerospace.com. “Italy concurs with the favorable results of the JSF program’s recent Critical Design Review, and has not identified any other outstanding issues,” Bernardis said.
A Dutch official, noting that Dutch industry has already obtained more than 400 million euros in JSF-related work, said that “we are quite happy with the program so far.” The official added that Britain declined to attend the March 7 meeting of European JSF partners in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, “because it prefers to discuss things on a bilateral basis with the United States,” implying that its current concerns are different from those of the other partners.
“A lot of it is political grandstanding, as in Denmark, the Netherlands and even in Norway the air force staffs have no real operational problem with the way the program is going,” another European official told defense-aerospace.com. “In some countries, it’s political, and in others it’s related to work-share; that’s all there is to it.”
Italy has concluded an agreement in principle to obtain a local JSF assembly line and a support capability that will allow it to manage and support the aircraft to its satisfaction, although this must now be confirmed in the MoU due to be signed by year-end for the JSF’s Production, Sustainment and Follow-On Development phase.
Turkey appears satisfied by the latest offer of production work-share for its continued participation in the program, which has calmed earlier misgivings. Lockheed-Martin this week improved its original offer with a high-technology work package that could be worth as much as $5 billion, Turkish Daily News reported March 22. The package includes production of composite airframe parts, of the center fuselage, and possibly also a local assembly line at the Ankara factory of Tusas Aerospace Industries (TAI).
“The plan for the production of the center fuselage will earn Turkey's local industry advanced composite manufacturing capabilities with future technology," a Turkish defense procurement official told TDN, adding “That would seal our commitment to the program.”
One potential problem, though, is that Britain also expects a local assembly line for the 150 JSFs it plans to buy, and setting up three separate assembly lines in Europe alone, as well as a fourth one in Australia, might add to the JSF’s production costs and complexity. (ends)
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Other JSF Developments in the Past Week Include: |
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(Compiled by defense-aerospace.com; issued March 24, 2006)
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-- France’s Dassault Aviation has not offered its Rafale-M naval fighter to Britain as a possible alternative to JSF, and has no intention of making one unless formally requested by the British government, company sources say. And, contrary to published reports, neither has the French Ministry of Defense, the sources say.
--Dutch State Secretary for Defence Cees van der Knaap has not yet delivered on his promise to make public his letter to Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, setting out Dutch complaints about the JSF.
However, some of its contents leaked to the Dutch daily De Volskrant, which on March 20 said The Hague is insisting that Dutch pilots participate in the JSF flight-tests to ensure that Dutch requirements are taken into account, and that the U.S. share more technological information with the other partner countries. (Source: wire service reports)
--After a round of "extremely constructive" talks in the past week, Reuters reported March 20 that British officials are now more optimistic about the prospects of a JSF purchase. Talks between British Defence Procurement Minister Lord Drayson and US offcials, including the Pentagon’s Kenneth Krieg, have apparently gone a long way to resolving British misgivings about access to JSF technology.
Reuters quotes Steve Atkins, a spokesman for the British Embassy in Washington, as saying that "We are more optimistic that we can find a way through that will meet our requirements, and look to move forward now with greater confidence toward the next key milestone in the program signing of the MOU," although a number of details remain to be worked out.
--Appearing March 17 before the House Armed Services subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, Michael Sullivan, Director of GAO for Acquisition and Sourcing Management, painted a dismal picture of the current state of the JSF program, whose “business plan is unexecutable.”
Noting that the Pentagon currently plans to begin producing aircraft in 2007 with less than 1 percent of the flight test program completed, he recommended that the program be totally restructured to reduce unacceptable risks.
--In a related report released March 15, GAO noted that, since initial estimates, JSF “program acquisition unit costs have increased by 28 percent, or $23 million” per aircraft, while “development costs have increased 84 percent, planned purchases have decreased by 535 aircraft, and the completion of development has slipped 5 years.”
-ends-
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