Paul Lewis/FORT WORTH
Lockheed Martin warns that a new acquisition strategy for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) can only be settled once it is allowed to talk directly to rival Boeing about sharing engineering manufacturing development (EMD) and production.
US defence undersecretary Jacques Gansler is shortly expected to announce changes to the "winner takes all" strategy in a move to preserve two competing fighter manufacturers. How the policy will be implemented will probably be left to industry to resolve.
"They don't know how to do it," says Frank Cappuccio, Lockheed Martin JSF programme director. "What Gansler needs to do is give us permission to talk, but what he's worried about is collusion on the part of Boeing and Lockheed Martin to alter pricing."
Talks are unlikely before the submission of final Preferred Weapon System Concept (PWSC)proposals in November. A selection is set for April next year.
If Lockheed Martin wins, "our intention would be to make sure Boeing is brought on to the programme, giving them noble work, not junk, and making sure at the end of the EMD they are a viable prime contractor for the next fighter," says Cappuccio.
Lockheed Martin's teaming arrangements mean it is obliged to give its two partners a 10% share each, although the Northrop Grumman built mid-fuselage equates to 17% and BAE Systems' empennage work gives it 13%.
If Boeing were to join, its EMD role would hinge on "who is better at what and what they wanted," says Cappuccio. He adds: "We will not walk away from our team mates." A share of final assembly also appears to be an option.
Cappuccio says the programme "is too big for any one company". He says the three companies "see value" in the short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft being assembled in the UK, while Northrop Grumman could assemble outright the carrier-capable navy or STOVL variant.
Lockheed Martin's planned monthly output of 17 JSFs would initially be committed to meeting the US domestic purchase of 2,852 fighters. A European line would meet a UK order for 150 aircraft and would be able to offer JSF internationally before 2015.
"We did a case study for the UK which says you could break even at 350-400 aircraft. The issue is, can you resolve all the security problems?" asks Cappuccio.
Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney has successfully completed a series of critical "flow switch" tests on the JSF119-614S STOVL engine, which Boeing says proves the stability of the design and its software control system. The results are good news for Boeing, which feared new delays over validation of the propulsion control software. This threatened to further delay the first flight of Boeing's STOVL demonstrator, which is more than three months behind schedule.
Boeing is to start taxi tests of the conventional take-off and landing X-32A at Palmdale, California. The first runs, due this week, may lead to a flight in July or August.
Additional reporting, Guy Norris, Seattle.
Source: Flight International
