Douglas Barrie/PARIS
British Aerospace is to team with Lockheed Martin on the USA's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, having spurned Boeing's overtures to join its team.
The US companies have been courting BAe since the US Department of Defense (DoD) rejected the McDonnell Douglas bid for the JSF, on which BAe was a team member. The link between BAe and Lockheed Martin on the JSF could be the catalyst for closer ties across the board between the two defence giants.
Lockheed Martin chairman Norm Augustine says that the two companies have had"-months of high-level discussions regarding a long-term corporate partnership for many decades to come."
Along with meeting US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps requirements, the JSF is also slated to replace the Royal Navy's BAe Sea Harrier F/A2s. The UK defence ministry is contributing to the JSF demonstration phase.
The decision to team with Lockheed Martin was not unanimous within BAe, as doubts linger over which of the two US giants will win the lead 3,000-aircraft programme. Some senior management within the company's Military Aircraft division preferred Boeing, apparently viewing it as a better bet in the short term. Lockheed Martin won out, however, in part because of the potentially strategic nature of such an alliance.
"After a careful evaluation of both, we decided that BAe could provide a best added-value contribution to the Lockheed Martin team," says BAe chief executive Sir Richard Evans.
Evans echoes Augustine's view of increasing ties between the two companies."It's inevitable that it is going to lead to a much closer long-term relationship," he says.
Source: Flight International
