Douglas Barrie/LONDON
The UK is to reconsider the Northrop Grumman Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) to meet its Airborne Stand-off Radar System (ASTOR) requirement, following a political deal hammered out in September.
The E-8 J-STARS bid was eliminated from the UK competition on technical and operational grounds more than a year ago, but the US Government has been applying intense pressure for the J-STARS to be reconsidered, claim sources.
Sir Robert Walmsley, the UK Ministry of Defence's Chief of Defence Procurement is understood to have met US Department of Defense (DoD) officials in the second week of September.
The outcome of the meeting is that the UK is now considering the co-operative development of a variant of the J-STARS to meet the ASTOR operational requirement. A Bombardier Global Express, rather than a Boeing 707, is believed to be the likely platform.
Procurement sources claim that the impetus for the UK's change of heart on the J-STARS is for political, rather than military, reasons. They also voice concern that such a volte face undermines the credibility of the MoD's competitive process.
Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were originally picked by the MoD to provide best and final offers for the ASTOR requirement. AJ-STARS bid will now be considered with these two submissions.
The MoD has been working towards a submission of the best and final offers by January 1998. Whether it will now delay a decision because of the J-STARS proposal is unclear. The US DoD is also pushing the J-STARS to meet a NATO requirement for an airborne surveillance capability.
Source: Flight International
