To Get On Board JSF, You Need to Be Special and Quick

High hopes abound for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, with air forces and aviation industries worldwide staking their futures on it.

However, the window of opportunity for potential export customers to get on board the program and benefit from it is steadily closing, and there may be not that much on offer anyway.

Governments who wish to become part of the international JSF consortium ­ which already includes the UK and Canada ­ must win approval from the US authorities and then hand over their cash. After that, all that's on offer is an assured delivery position and the right for national industry to bid to become JSF suppliers ­ assuming they have products that meet the technical and cost requirements of Lockheed Martin. This is in direct contrast to the offers being made by competitors such as Eurofighter and Gripen International who are making expansive promises to future customers, guaranteeing advanced industrial co-operation regardless of whether they actually buy aircraft. Such deals are on offer to the Netherlands, by Eurofighter, and to several prospective Gripen customers.

Lockheed Martin would not comment on what, if any, industrial benefits the Dutch industry could hope to gain if the Netherlands opts for the JSF ­ as it seems likely to do next month. Right now, applications are being sought to join the 10-year, $19-billion system test and development phase of the JSF program ­ a process that is controlled entirely by the US government, not Lockheed Martin, and will be completed within a few months.

There will be no traditional offset agreements for JSF partners ­ and there is no chance that any JSFs will ever be built outside the United State's own (single-line production facility. While Lockheed Martin says that there is potential for outside nations to make a meaningful industrial contribution to the JSF ­ it is not depending on the industrial argument to win orders. According to Dr Robert Trice, Senior Vice President, Corporate Business Development, "Every government has to assess where its strategic future lies", and make a decision between its industry and its wider national considerations. "The consortium is being put together sooner rather than later," said Trice, "and after that ­ once it's done it's done."

By Robert Hewson