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TERMA Gets Another Nibble at the JSF Pie
Denmark's Terma A/S (Hall 2, Stand C19) has signed an MoU with Lockheed Martin for future co-operation on the design development, integration testing and-eventually-production of podded flight test systems for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Terma would not put a value on the contract but president and CEO Jens Maaløe said that it was modest, "a lot less than our previous JSF contract, for gun pod work, that was worth $8 million."
Terma hopes it is on the verge of winning some really meaningful work on the JSF program as it negotiates the supply of composite sections for the aircraft's empennage and mid-fuselage section. Said Maaløe "nothing has been agreed but we are in discussions with [JSF team member] BAE Systems to become a supplier for the empennage, which could be worth between $10 and $30 million, and with Northrop Grumman on the mid-fuselage sections, which could be worth anything from $50 to $300 million for us. These are all SDD phase contracts so it's difficult to be precise about the exact numbers."
Danish taxpayers have handed over $125 million to the U.S. in support of JSF development costs so far, and Terma's $8 million deal for work on the gun system remains by far the biggest contract awarded to Danish industry to date. To win further deals Maaløe admits that Terma will have to commit yet more company funding to infrastructure development before it will be considered for new JSF work, but Maaløe says that the JSF is so important, "we are ready to do whatever we have to do in terms of investment in people and equipment. Today Terma is a $70-million company, growing at 10% per year. In order to continue growing we have to get on programs like this."
—Robert Hewson
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