The potential for a second JSF production line in Europe is being eyed by Italy and the UK to enhance the domestic industrial impact of their respective investments, as well as providing a focal point for through-life support.
The UK has bolstered its case in the form of a study conducted by Rand Europe and released last month. It found that if the UK were to go ahead with its plan to invest in final assembly and checkout (FACO) facilities to maintain, repair and upgrade the 150 fighters on order, these could also be used to assemble aircraft locally for the relatively small additional sum of £12.9 million ($21.8 million).
The UK Ministry of Defence says the study shows it is "technically feasible for a second FACO facility in the UK. There is likely to be synergy between a UK-based logistics support infrastructure, which will be required to safeguard national capability, and a second FACO, and this may be one of the influences upon which the decision to establish a second FACO will be based." Technology transfer is the stumbling block. The study estimates that construction of a combined final assembly and repair facility would have to start around 2007. For this to happen, export of all classified technologies involved would have to be cleared. Of the four establishments thought capable of hosting a combined final assembly line and repair centre, Rand rejected Rolls-Royce due to the company's "strategic focus on propulsion". That leaves BAE Systems, the Defence Aviation Research Agency and Marshall Aerospace. BAE Systems says it is working with Lockheed Martin to explore whether a second FACO could operate cost effectively.
Source: Flight International
