Posted on 03/09/2006 6:37:26 PM PST by Blogger
DOD angers GE, Brits on joint fighter plan WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- A row between General Electric and the Pentagon over the new joint fighter plane will hit Congress next week.
International partners working on the Joint Strike Fighter, a next-generation aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as U.S. allies, will weigh in next week on Pentagon plans to freeze domestic giant General Electric Co. and the British firm Rolls-Royce out of lucrative work on the program, Congress Daily reported.
Representatives from eight countries will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee March 14 on the Pentagon's decision to terminate the fighter's alternate engine program, potentially steering billions of dollars of work away from Britain.
Tension already is high between the Defense Department and its international program partners. Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney will now develop the sole engine for the plane, which is being assembled by Lockheed Martin Corp. in Fort Worth, Texas.
Several partners already have "complained about the amount and quality of work their companies have received," said Christopher Bolkcom, an Air Force analyst at the Congressional Research Service. Essentially, it could send a message to other countries that they are "not really partners, but in fact junior partners," he added.
Many countries have threatened to abandon the program altogether and instead buy the Eurofighter Typhoon now used by the German, Spanish, Italian and British air forces, defense sources said. So far, no country has bailed out from the program.
Congress has required the Air Force to seek an alternate engine on the Joint Strike Fighter more than a decade ago as a backup in the event of technical problems on the initial engine. Doing so, lawmakers hoped, also would foster competition and decrease program costs.
Sounds like Northwest Airlines years ago. They thought P&W made aircraft engines and GE made light bulbs.
oh boy, congress is sure to screw this one up too. Just wonder which way the wind will be blowing that day.
The Pentagon-where bureaucrats in uniform go to die...
Just take a look at their campaign contributions or which plants are in their states.
The UAE should be interested since congress has said they are a security threat. They shouldn't be buying anymore F16's.
The UK informed the DOD last month that they were considering buying European planes and dropping out of the joint fighter completely. So, they should be surprised that the DOD doesn't want them to be a supplier.
The way I understood this was that the alternative engines were going to be too expensive to develop. Are our allies basically saying that costs be damned, build the alternative jet engine? WTF? If we can't afford it, we can't afford it.
The alternative engine cut will save short term about $1.8 B. But at what cost? Our friendship with Great Britain? The loss of several countries (including UK) that are looking at European fighters in lieu of our own?
1) Competition keeps costs down. If this military program goes down, so does competition. It has already said that loss of the JSF will mean GE gets completely out of the military engine business. That leaves one supplier. Not good economically.
2) Historically, engines have had trouble. Historically, Congress has learned the merits of having an alternate engine because if you don't, and the engine you're running is your main plane, then you are out of luck. The whole fleet is grounded because of an engine flaw and there's nothing to fall back on.
3) The GE Engine hasn't been plagued with problems and has come in at or under cost.
4) Our allies (whom we need in this world) feel betrayed, as well they should. They are our partners and have invested billions themselves in this venture. To cancel says that they don't matter.
In the mean time, we blow $4B on a city that will be washed away with another hurricane. We spend $1B for the poor to get energy help ( I appreciate this one more than the 4B, but I'm sure there will be many who are able bodied to milk this slush fund). And we can't afford 1.8 B for an alternate engine. I say we can't afford not to.
This is only after Blair personally appealed to Bush 3 times to save the program of which Rolls-Royce is a 40% partner.
RR still gets to provide the lift fans for the VTOL units even if congess doesn't provide addition funds. Actually, i hear that is the pentagon's plan. The alt engine was congress' baby from the beginning. They'll preserve it with additional cash infusion.
I'm aware of the technology sharing issues. But, thus far, we have not had to share this kind of technology. Bush took the alternative engine (at the Pentagon's recommendation) out of the budget. That is what prompted Blair's call. We shouldn't have to share classified technology. But all news accounts indicate that this wasn't what Blair's calls and letters were about. At least not with the recent turn of events.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.