Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
US defence acquisition undersecretary Jacques Gansler has ordered a potentially far-reaching review of the Joint Strike Fighter's (JSF) "winner-take-all" selection strategy as part of a wider push to ensure a continuing competitive industrial base.
Gansler has given the review 90 days to identify JSF acquisition options and report its findings. He wants it completed so that any changes in procurement can be incorporated into the release of a request for proposals for the engineering and manufacturing development phase.
"JSF requires special efforts to ensure that both competing firms remain competitive, healthy, and technologically advanced in the years following the final contract award, yet assuring there is a clear 'winner' in the competition," says Gansler.
The move follows growing concern that a choice in April 2001 of Boeing or Lockheed Martin will effectively put one of the nation's two remaining fighter manufacturers out of business. The stakes are enormous, with the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and the UK requiring 3,000 JSF fighters.
A divided decision would effectively defeat the programme's main objective of cutting costs by only developing one common type. Industry sources say it would also be difficult for the winner to hand over to the loser design responsibility for a JSF derivative .
A simpler approach might be to share production of the selected fighter, effectively making the loser a subcontractor to the winner.
Assisting in the review will be three consultants: Northrop Grumman chairman Renso Caporali, retired USAF System Command chief Larry Skantze and ex-Hughes executive John Weaver.
Gansler's review forms part of a wider seven-point action plan. It includes a closer integration of civil and military procurement practices to cut costs, promotion of transatlantic and transpacific industrial co-operation, and the rationalisation of company activities, such as Raytheon's consolidation of missile production at Tucson, Arizona.
Other actions being taken include the competitive sourcing of all "non-inherently government work", bringing small high-technology companies into defence work and an overhaul of procurement policies and practices.
Gansler has called on industry management to make similar efforts at reform. "Our mutual objectives are clear. A strong, competitive, healthy and innovative defence industry means a stronger defence," says Gansler.
Source: Flight International
