U.S., U.K. Reach JSF Agreement
U.S. and British defense officials have inked a new agreement on the transfer of sensitive technologies for the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, removing an irritant in the close relationship between the two allies that has rankled both sides for months.
At a July 18 meeting in London, Kenneth Krieg, the Pentagon’s acquisition executive, and Sir Peter Spencer, the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s chief of procurement, signed an agreement setting forth a statement of principles for Britain to achieve operational sovereignty of any Joint Strike Fighter aircraft it may acquire, according to Defense Department officials.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence wants access to technologies and secrets that will give it the means to maintain and upgrade its notional JSF fleet independent of the United States; the Defense Department in recent months has resisted releasing the technologies Britain seeks.
Aviation experts say the sticking points in deliberations likely have been British access to stealth technology, software source code underpinning the aircraft’s operations, and agreements on follow-on development of after-market capabilities that U.K. firms could manufacture and market around the world.
Negotiations intended to produce a tech transfer agreement fell apart on the eve of a high-level meeting in mid-June. However, subsequent deliberations set the stage for the London meeting — while U.S. officials were in England to view the Farnborough air show — that produced the agreement on the “statement of principles.”
“I think both sides feel that at the higher [political] level, issues of principle were resolved in discussions that took place. And both sides feel comfortable to push things back to the working level to work things out,” said a Pentagon official.
The $276 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, potentially the largest weapons procurement program in history, includes eight other international partners. The United Kingdom is the largest foreign participant both in terms of investment in developing aircraft and in pledges to buy the fighters. Britain requires 150 JSFs, recently dubbed Lightening II, to replace its aging Harrier fleet. The Pentagon plans purchases of more than 2,400 of the new fighters.
The Defense Department’s reluctance to provide key technologies — particularly critical software code — to Britain, however, sparked deep resentment and threats earlier this year from London to withdraw from the fighter-jet program.
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on May 26 issued a joint statement in Washington, resolving to iron out long-standing disagreement.
“Both governments agree that the U.K. will have the ability to successfully operate, upgrade, employ, and maintain the Joint Strike Fighter such that the U.K. retains operational sovereignty over the aircraft,” the two leaders said in a statement.
Defense officials from both countries are now expected to hammer out a series of classified annexes to the agreement that will spell out protocols and particulars of transferring sensitive technologies essential for Britain’s operational sovereignty of the aircraft.
These follow-on agreements, each for a particular technology area, are expected to be in place by November, Pentagon officials said, in advance of a December decision on the next phase of the program: production.
Sign In
August 2, 2006 at 3:44 pm