By Graham Warwick in Washington DC
The US and UK governments are still “working out the details” of resolving technology transfer issues on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), despite an agreement by President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair that the UK will have “operational sovereignty” over the aircraft.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting on 26 May, Bush and Blair said: “Both governments agree that the UK will have the ability to successfully operate, upgrade, employ and maintain the Joint Strike Fighter such that the UK retains operational sovereignty over the aircraft.” The governments also agree “to protect sensitive technologies” in the JSF, and are “working out the details, while remaining committed to these principles”.
The UK Ministry of Defence says there is “still some way to go to fully resolve technology transfer issues. We continue to work closely with the USA, and hope to reach agreement on the detail in good time.” Eight key points are being discussed, and a high-level US/UK government-to-government meeting is planned for late this month.
The MoD’s major concern, says Lockheed vice-president and general manager F-35 programme integration Tom Burbage, is its ability to incorporate “urgent operational requirements” (UOR) into the JSF. While the UK has incorporated more than 40 UOR upgrades in the Boeing-designed Harrier II, Burbage says all but a handful have been to improve interoperability with US forces, which the JSF is intended to achieve through designed-in commonality. The UK also purchased design authority for the Harrier II, something it does not plan to do with the JSF, he says.
Even if there is a government-to-government agreement, Burbage says, Lockheed will still have to apply for export licenses for the incremental transfer of any US technology the UK needs for operational sustainment of its projected fleet of 150 JSFs. “But there is time for that. The first aircraft will not arrive on UK soil until 2013-14.”
The US-UK joint statement came just ahead of a meeting of the international partners this week to finalise the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the JSF production, sustainment and follow-on development phase. Programme officials hope a resolution of the UK’s concerns over technology transfer will lead to similar deals with the other partners, without which it will be difficult for the nations to obtain political approval to sign the MoU in December as planned.
Source: Flight International
