By Graham Warwick in London
Norway has agreed to continue participation in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) system development and demonstration (SDD) programme, but emphasises it has not yet decided whether to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35 as its next fighter.
Oslo’s decision to stay in the JSF programme came after Lockheed presented an improved industrial participation package. Led by Kongsberg, and fuelled by rival offers from Eurofighter and Gripen International, Norwegian industry had complained about the amount and type of JSF work available.
The Norwegian government is due to make its next JSF SDD payment on 1 June, but had requested and received a waiver of its contractual requirement to provide 90 days notice of withdrawal from the programme, raising fears that it would be the first of the nine international partners to pull out.
Under Lockheed’s improved offer, potential contracts worth up to NKr20 billion ($3 billion) over JSF production and sustainment have been identified, says the Norwegian defence ministry. The agreement to continue participating in JSF development requires the Oslo government to provide NKr114 million ($17.4 million) in addition to the NKr429 million already paid, it says.
Norwegian defence minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen says: "I want to emphasise that this decision does not mean that we have decided which aircraft Norway will procure, but I am satisfied that our efforts to strengthen Norwegian industry’s opportunities have been rewarded, should we decide to choose JSF."
The decision to stay in the SDD programme for now is separate from Norway’s evaluation of four potential candidates for its new fighter requirement: the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed F-35 JSF and Saab JAS39 Gripen. All four companies have responded to a request for information that is part of a process leading up to a Norwegian decision by December on whether to sign the multi-national memorandum of understanding (MoU) on JSF production.
A draft of the MoU of the JSF production, sustainment and follow-on development phase is scheduled to be released in June, allowing each of the partner nations to begin the process of obtaining budgetary and parliamentary approval for eventual procurement of the JSF.
Source: Flight International
