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Transatlantic Fracas Aside, Lockheed Martin Still Bets on Partnerships
"We do not believe that the current strains in the transatlantic
alliance are without precedent. They are simply the strains people
perceive most vividly today because they have occurred most recently."
That view, expressed by Robert Trice, Lockheed Martin senior VP
for corporate business development, explains why the company is
holding steadfast to its long-standing call for an "integrated
transatlantic defense marketplace." Trice added, "it
becomes more obvious every day that the transatlantic alliance
is essential to the preservation of Western security and vital
to cooperation against the new types of threats to that security,
such as terrorism."
Trice was standing in for Lockheed Martin CEO Vance Coffman, another
top U.S. industrialist skipping the airshow. Coffman was slated
to arrive, but Lockheed Martin officials say "a number of
unscheduled conflicts" caused plans to change.
Lockheed Martin's officials aren't oblivious to the political
realities of the time. "We do acknowledge that the strains
the alliance is experiencing are real and that they are serious,"
Trice noted. Nevertheless, he continued, "the economic, political
and financial forces that make transatlantic cooperation attractive-and
that make the defense and aerospace industry a global enterprise-remain."
Moreover, "the defense industrial cycle is longer than the
political cycle," Trice pointed out. "We cannot, and
will not, stop and start [cooperative] projects in response to
the latest headline-grabbing 'crisis' in transatlantic relations.
Our relationships are too enduring and too important to be buffeted
by short-term gusts of political discord."
But Trice also noted there are some problematic developments on
both sides of the Atlantic that appear to be reinforcing an industrial
fortress mentality. In Europe, he alluded to the recent launch
of A400M and Galileo. "When we see European governments spending
precious resources to duplicate capabilities that have already
been developed-or holding economic 'competitions' only to make
the final award based on political criteria-we realize that there
is still a lot of work to be done." In the U.S., too, there
has historically been pressure from Congress to "Buy America"
and, Trice acknowledged, "we see some tendencies in that
direction now."
In general, governments should be smarter buyers and not let protectionist
instinct be misled too easily. For instance, he cited the US101
helicopter-Lockheed Martin is the prime to offer the European
EH101 in the U.S., with Bell Helicopter Textron as a production
partner-as an aircraft with 65% American content, while its main
rival, the Sikorsky S/H-92, relies for key components on overseas
suppliers, including some in China.
Similarly, as the Pentagon considers future tanker purchases-the
first 100 are being leased from Boeing-it should be aware of
"what the actual content is on any of the commercial airplanes."
Trice indicated an Airbus offer could be attractive, noting that
it already has U.S. content and, in a not so subtle hint at a
role for Lockheed Martin, said that concerns about final assembly
of an A330 tanker "could be sorted out.
By Robert Wall
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