Building international relationships has proved to be crucial for the UK's Smiths Aerospace, a first-tier supplier for JSF
Smiths Aerospace has found that supporting the internationalisation of the JSF supply chain can be good for its core business.
The Joint Strike Fighter has long been a strategic priority for UK-based Smiths, says David Bina, the company's JSF programmes director. But the project has also brought about an unexpected role for Smiths as a bridge between the interests of the USA and other member nations.
Smiths' JSF investment, says Bina, represents a sum "similar to the budget of some security-concerned countries" and, as such, long-term tactics were required to secure a return. "We need to understand what the core team is trying to achieve and fit in," he says.
The JSF programme's international co-operation objectives have emerged as a key element of Smiths' strategy, with the company one of the most active in finding subcontractors outside the UK and USA.
Last month, the company signed a partnership agreement with Turkey's Aydin Yazilim ve Elektronik Sanayi to develop mechanical and circuit-card subassemblies for the JSF missile remote interface unit. The deal was Turkey's first JSF contract and took a year of negotiation.
Smiths has also been active in countries such as Denmark, which have so far seen few requests for proposals from the prime contractors. The company says its experience of managing cultural and time-zone differences is key, but foresees logistical problems as the JSF programme continues, given that its own supplier base is dispersed over 17 countries.
Some countries also seem attached to the offset model, which guarantees work for national industry at a level equivalent to government investment. This is incompatible with Lockheed Martin's guidance on best-value contracts.
Bina says that it has "taken a while for some countries to understand the rules have changed, but we have the opportunity to get the best athletes on our team and gain technical and economic advantage".
The lesson, says Mike Waters, Smiths Electronic Systems' JSF project director, is that UK-based companies have an obligation to liaise between the USA and the rest of Europe. Building relationships will be crucial when the issue of JSF support comes up. "We already have the infrastructure in place to support the UK's planned fleet, and we could undertake support for the rest of Europe too," he says.
Smiths stands to gain work worth almost $9 billion over the projected lifetime of the aircraft. That figure includes a $500 million contract awarded by Lockheed Martin last month to Smiths' subsidiary Interconnect for the supply of microwave broadband airborne cable assemblies for the JSF.
US capabilitiesBina points out that the company's JSF success is not limited to its UK operations. Smiths has a UK heritage, but its capability is spread between the UK and USA thanks to the acquisition of the US avionics businesses of Lear Siegler and a merger in 2000 with the TI Group, which included Dowty hydraulic and actuation systems.
That US presence has helped the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based arm of Smiths Aerospace secure contracts to supply the JSF onboard stores management system. In addition, other facilities in New England will supply hoses and tubes for the Rolls-Royce LiftFan vertical lift system.
Smiths Electronic Systems, based at Cheltenham in the UK, started working with Lockheed Martin on JSF during the concept-definition phase in 1994. This led to the first concept demonstrator in 1997 and a development award in 2001. That early engagement brought home just how significant JSF could be in future business terms. Waters says: "All the projections showed it was going to be a replacement for so many aircraft that it became a must-win programme for us."
Bina says the company's approach was also shaped by a realisation that JSF was potentially the last-ever manned fighter, and would be an important stepping stone to future work on the development of unmanned combat air vehicles.
Smiths' UK operations targeted four key JSF work packages - electrical power management distribution, remote input-output data concentrators (RIOs), prognostic and health monitoring systems, and agile stand-by flight displays.
Waters says investment in emerging technology was essential to the company's capture strategy. He points to the RIOs, which act as routers for data coming from the aircraft's sensors, replacing metres of wiring, and represent a weight saving of up to 25%. "These kind of technologies will be very important as we move towards UAVs [unmanned air vehicles]," says Bina.
Smiths' position as a first-tier supplier allows it to participate in the development process at Fort Worth. That level of access has its costs. For example, Smiths Electronic Systems has a global project authorisation from the US Department of Defense for the JSF project, but that does not automatically guarantee access to export-controlled data. Waters says adapting to the rules has become "just a way of life".
Source: Flight International
