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On the Record with
IAN STOPPS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LOCKHEED MARTIN UK
"We are dedicated to making transatlantic partnerships work, with real programs such as the JSF, US101 and MEADS. We will continue to bring technology into the UK from the vast resources of the U.S., use it for ourselves and with our partners and ‘indigenize' it."
That last point is crucial says Lockheed Martin UK's CEO Ian Stopps, who points out that 90% of his company's employees are British and that the company has an excellent record of swapping UK content for ‘imported' content over the life of a program. Lockheed Martin's role with the Merlin helicopter is cited as the prime example of this. "My job is to make that happen," he says, "to meet the defense industrial strategy needs of the military and government here.
"The JSF is top of our list to keep moving in the UK. The US101 program is also of great consequence. We will continue with the Merlin and C-130J Hercules, working on through-life support; training will be important too. Then there are the net-enabled capability programs such as GBAD (Ground-Based Air Defense) and CEC (Co-operative Engagement Capability) that are all big for us."
Stopps says he is very pleased with the level of progress achieved on the UK side of the JSF program. Issues such as the STOVL variant's struggle with its weight have been "misunderstood" he believes. "There are many ways of dealing with weight creep. Weight [on its own] is not a parameter that we have to meet. Yes, we are taking weight out of the design, but the engines are delivering greater thrust than expected and there are aerodynamic changes that can be made. We have moved smartly on the problem."
On the parallel issue of technology transfer and access Stopps says there are no problems for the UK there either. "Here in the SDD phase we are getting all the agreements in place well before time to accommodate everything we need to do. We are already addressing production and support questions. Both Lockheed Martin UK and BAE Systems are getting all we need to deliver to the customer. Are you told everything you ever wanted to know about the JSF? No—but that's not necessary."
Like all UK contractors Lockheed Martin is awaiting the imminent statement from the UK Minister of Defence here on the fate of future budgets and programs. "We are delighted that the overall budget has seen an increase," says Stopps "and we are expecting the transformation of the British military to continue. There will clearly be pluses and minuses in the statement—we are waiting to see what is said. But all the indications are that the concepts of information superiority and effects-based operations will remain core requirements. That calls for a strongly network-based capability and that is what we deliver."
The UK's GBAD requirement, for which Lockheed Martin is in a competitive
evaluation alongside EADS, has been cited as one program with doubts
over its long-term future. Stoops disagrees "A lot of people think
GBAD is a weapons system but it's not—it's an important network-enabled
command and control system. For the future, all UK air defenses
will need to be integrated, and that's what we will deliver. It's
a long program [the current study phase is a 39-month effort] but
the whole area of network-enabled capabilities is going to be crucial
and this is one of the most important programs in that respect."
—Robert Hewson
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