Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 - (Page 64)

EUROPEAN FIGHTER COMPETITION FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 European Fighter Aircraft Market Is Booming For a part of the world best known for reluctant and mostly stagnant defense spending Europe is the setting for one surprisingly active market. There has been an explosion in the number of nations now looking for new combat aircraft. Away from the established programs for the Eurofighter Typhoon (in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria), Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF (UK, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey) and Dassault’s Rafale in France, Show News calculates there are more than 10 new competitive fighter requirements in various stages of resolution across Europe. Bob Kemp, Gripen International’s sales and marketing director, cast his eye over the European situation for Show News and commented, “The activity out there is unbelievable, if you compare it with just four years ago. We have hit a 30-year rollover point from the intensity of the Cold War. Each air force now wants a fighter in 2010, for the next 30-year cycle. It’s as if every air force guy can only think in terms of zeros, and 30 years! Eighteen months ago Gripen had one active sales campaign, by our definition. Now it’s seven.” The same is true for all the manufacturers competing for the current and emerging swathe of European requirements. Denmark & Norway From the beginning Denmark and Norway insisted they would run open competitions to select their next-generation F-16 replacement. Both countries have broadly similar requirements—each needs about 48 new jets—and both issued RFIs in 2005. Norway is edging slightly ahead, with a selection expected in September 2008 and a formal procurement announcement in the following December. Denmark’s defense ministry is expected to recommend an aircraft in early 2009 with a political decision to follow. In Norway there is a straight fight between the Saab Gripen and Lockheed Martin’s JSF. As with the JSF, the Norwegian government has invested in future technology development for the Gripen. For its part the Swedish government has pledged to accelerate the Gripen NG program, buying new aircraft for Sweden at the same time as Norway, if Gripen is selected there. Saab’s Gripen is going head-to-head with the JSF In Norway and Denmark. Previously Eurofighter withdrew from the competition, expressing its dissatisfaction at the bid process. The Gripen and the JSF are also facing-off in Denmark, where earlier this year Boeing made an unsolicited bid to include the Super Hornet. That offer was not taken up. The Netherlands Sustained political pressure from within the Dutch parliament has suddenly forced the government there to re-evaluate other options to the JSF, despite a deep and longstanding unwillingness to do so. The Dutch JSF procurement process has been locked in step with the U.S. for years now and in May the purchase of two F-35A test aircraft was approved. Eurofighter and Dassault refused to respond to the new Dutch RFI, issued in early July. Confidence in the independence of the new Dutch process is not high. Boeing was not asked to participate, but Saab’s Gripen team has thrown its hat into the ring. Saab has 60 days to respond to the Spending On Stealth Is Money Wasted, Says Boeing Boeing is hammering out a message that an emphasis on all-aspect stealth is not serving the customers who want combat aircraft like the F-22 and F-35. Instead, Boeing is pitching the Block II Super Hornet as a multirole fighter that is fully exportable and which does pretty much anything a user might need. Says Chris Chadwick, president, Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems, “The fifth generation of fighters is here today with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. It has everything the F-35 has, except all-aspect stealth. But the F-35 has only completed about 1% of its flight test program, it hasn’t delivered and so international customers are starting to take a second look because the F-35 is struggling—you can see that.” Mark Kronenberg, vp, international business development for Boeing IDS, makes the point that the F-22 remains unavailable for export, now and in the future. “Even if Obey goes tomorrow (the Obey Amendment is the U.S. legal ruling that bars foreign sales of the F-22) then you’ve got to face the question of what sort of F-22 will you get? Who would step up to pay those non-recurring costs? It would be very expensive.” Chadwick adds “The F-22 is hands-down the most dominant air-to-air platform and it has the Small Diameter Bomb for a little air-to-ground— but it’s not an F/A-22.” Meanwhile says Chadwick, the F/A-18E/F has become “terrific value down from $82 million in LRIP1 to $49.9 million in MYPIII (although a third multi-year procurement batch is not yet contracted) with a terrific increase in capability with the Block II. It has AESA, fibre-optics, JHMCS, the advanced cockpit.” “Stealth, important as it is, is just not needed for every mission. What you want is a net-centric aircraft with weapons and sensors as the competitive discriminator. If you can see what’s out there, and you have the weapons to reach out and strike, if you have integrated C2 and UAVs, then it’s a whole different ball game.” Kronenberg notes that the Super Hornet is already making headway against the JSF. “Australia,” he says, “has put the Super Hornet into play against the JSF, and as the JSF moves out (i.e. is further delayed) then there’s a void there and some customers are looking again to see does the F/A-18E/F fit the bill. What we are saying is we have a lot of capability at a good price.” —Robert Hewson 64 July 14, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 Contents Thirty More Years CFM Reveals New Engine Boeing Reduces Forecast UAVs’ Quiet Revolution Finmeccanica: U.S. Success A Plethora of AESAs BAE North America Plus L-3 Becomes a Prime Better Late Than Never A Peek Behind the Curtain China’s J-10 Revealed Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner Breaking LM’s Hegemony

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

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