Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Boeing and Lockheed Martin have welcomed the US Department of Defense (DoD) decision to stick with a "winner-takes-all" acquisition strategy for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) - at least for now.
After an analysis of alternative strategies, the DoD says it is not evident that maintaining competition into the production phase will reduce costs. "Our initial internal investigation said that we're not sure it really makes a lot of pay off in terms of costs," says undersecretary of defence for acquisition Jacques Gansler.
The DoD is keeping its options open, however. Rand has been commissioned to perform an independent assessment of alternative strategies and report back by 1 December, after the Presidential election. "We will continue to evaluate these options and to develop a comprehensive assessment that our successors can use as they make decisions on the future course of the JSF programme," defence secretary William Cohen says in a letter sent on 22 June to Congress.
Gansler plays down concerns about keeping both companies in the fighter business. "The issue that was driving us was not an industrial base issue, it was primarily a cost question - whether we could make a saving in the long term," he says. "At least for the near term, in terms of the airframe, engine, radar and avionics manufacturers, there is considerable business still around for each of them. The out years is where you might get into an industrial base question, but that's much more of a future competition question."
The decision leaves open the possibility that the losing team could eventually be qualified to produce the winning design competitively. But for now the DoD will proceed with plans to select a single JSF design by the middle of next year for development and production.
A draft request for proposals (RFP) will be issued this week or next, followed by the final RFP in August. Responses are due in November. The Boeing X-32A and Lockheed Martin X-35A conventional take-off and landing concept demonstrators are set to fly in July/August, but the short take-off and vertical landing X-32B and X-35B are not expected to fly until the end of the year. Flight testing will continue to March/April next year, with "downselect" expected in May/June.
Gansler says the schedule leaves open the opportunity to modify the acquisition strategy based on the Rand report. "There is going to be a winner that's going to be based on the proposals and flight testing. Then we can decide whether the loser is also going to be brought into the programme at that point," he says. "It's winner take all unless something says it shouldn't be."
Source: Flight International
