I see teh reaction of several european countries and I rad the article in the first post.

No, I don’t think you did read the article. Here’s a quote from it for you.

“A lot of partners don’t seem to quite understand that this isn’t an old-style airplane program,” said General Jeffery Kohler in an interview yesterday at the Paris Air Show. “This is not an offset program or an industrial development program” that awards contracts in return for funding.”

Actually Northrop was supposed to be the prime contractor of the land-based F-18L version. That one just refused to sell, is all.

Yes, I know. I always thought that was stupid. Haven’t you ever wondered why they weren’t the prime for both? The YF-17 was their design.

That’s not bad when you think about it a bit. How many F/A-22 are going to get built? 177?

50 is a little less than 1/3 of the F/A-22 production run.

The US should worry about the fact that by 2050 it will be China that has the largest economy in the world.

Is there some kind of special European relationship with China that will keep China from pushing Europe around?

Does this mean that China can push Europe around in 2030, because Europe is a bunch of smaller countries?

I’ve been to China on business. It is very impressive, but it has it’s own set of challenges as well. Let’s pick up this conversation in 20 years when China and the US are more of a match.

Flight International article- Europe warned on F-35 dangers http://www.flightinternational.com/Articles/2005/06/14/Navigation/181/199030/Europe+warned+on+F-35+dangers.html

Quote- The WEU analysis says JSF programme participation by Italy and the UK ties those nations “for over a decade to a US project which makes no industrial or technological contribution to [the] European defence industrial and technology base.

BAE isn’t Europe, but the JSF project does contribute to BAE’s industrial and technology base. As a company, I think BAE does benefit from the JSF program.

Any US company attempting to use BAE developed technology for other aircraft project would have to pay BAE for that right.

Any other European contractors would benefit from it’s experience in the JSF project as well, wouldn’t they?

“Europe” as a “country”, union, or region might not benefit as much, but European companies do stand to benefit.

You would think that the US military would have mentioned something about China ever operating MiG-31s in their reports on Taiwan and the Chinese military.

I would think that it would be pretty hard to disguise from satellites if they ever went operational in China.

Everyone know that the congresmen doesn’t want foreign customer to get exactly the same F-35 than US armies.

Who is “Everyone”? Can you give me the name of a US general who has demanded this?

Which congressman was this? A lot of congressmen rant about this and that, but never get their way. I suspect the same in true for the many European legislatures as well.

they promised :

– very low unit price (less than $40 million)
– state of the art weapon system and stealth
– oustanding workshares given to the best compagnies

The reality :

– the price increase each year
– EU countries will get a downgraded version because of the american protectionism on sensible technology (especially on stealth features)
– The previous point prevent european compagnies to get serious workshare.

You seem to know that the JSF sold to non-US countries will be downgraded versions. Was this in a LockheedMartin or DoD press release somewhere?

You’re also assuming that all European companies are outstanding.

BAE seems very strong. They have got a very large share of the work. Maybe other countries don’t have as much to contribute, which explains their current workshare?