Italy Threatens To Halt JSF Plant Work
Italy Threatens To Halt JSF Plant Work
By tom kington
Published: 1 February 2010
ROME - Frustrated by what it considers paltry workshare on the Joint Strike Fighter program, Italy is threatening to halt preparations for its JSF final assembly line until it gets a bigger slice of work on the program.
The protest will halt planning for construction at Cameri air base in northern Italy where Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aeronautica is working with Lockheed Martin to build a Final Assembly and Check Out line (FACO).
Scheduled to start rolling off Italian JSFs in 2014, the FACO will also be used to maintain Italian and Dutch JSFs. Italy also has ambitions to turn it into a regional logistics hub.
"The government intends to order the suspension of the work preparing the JSF assembly line at Cameri until it obtains from Lockheed Martin an adequate and tangible response to our requests for the greater involvement of Italian industry in the program," said Italian Defense Undersecretary Guido Crosetto.
Crosetto aired his concerns about workshare in November when he visited the United States to talk with Lockheed Martin officials and Ashton Carter, U.S defense undersecretary for acquisition.
Italy has signed to contribute $904 million to the production sustainment and follow-on development (PSFD) phase of the JSF, having already committed $1 billion at the development stage. It now expects to pay $16.6 billion on the acquisition and initial logistic support for up to 131 aircraft.
Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aeronautica is Italy's largest contributor to the JSF as a second source for wing work, while smaller contracts have been given to a host of smaller firms.
"To date, the value of the contracts awarded, as well as the opportunities that will realistically turn into work for Italian firms on the JSF amount to about 55 percent of the value of the Italian investment in the program," said Crosetto. "We have asked Lockheed Martin that the objective be raised to 75 percent or more.
"At the same time we have asked the U.S. Department of Defense to step in to remove or mitigate the internal restrictions that today hinder the reaching of this objective," he said, "an objective we believe is legitimate considering Italy is the third-largest investor in the program after the U.S. and the U.K. Italy is not a customer but a partner on this program and we would like to be treated as such."
Lockheed officials in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
An Alenia spokesman declined to comment on Crosetto's call for more workshare.
JSF Program Reponse
The Pentagon's JSF program manager, U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Heinz, said Jan. 27 that Italy has "provided no such indications to me" that it will cut its participation in the program. Moreover, Heinz said, he would not respond to such a ploy.
"I truly believe, like the other nations [participating in JSF], this is all about trying to get the best deal possible," Heinz said. "I am not going to respond to [that] because we are years away from some of the decisions where we would say, 'Where are we going to put a new engine facility for maintenance or where are we going to stand up some of the warehouses in Europe?' My answer to that is: When I've got airplanes in Europe flying JSF, that would be the appropriate time to consider these issues."
Heinz said some countries were adopting an "if they build it, we will come" approach.
"I don't accept that as a premise for how we advance the program on a best-value basis," he said.
The JSF program was meant to move away from the traditional concepts of workshare for purchasers of the platform.
But Italy's center-right government began to express reluctance to abide completely by the principles of best value last year. When the government majority on a parliamentary defense commission voted to approve construction of the FACO and the purchase of JSF aircraft last March, it inserted a clause requiring "the signing of industrial and government accords that allow - notwithstanding the application of best value principles - an industrial return for Italy proportional to its financial participation in the program."
The commission also required an annual report on whether this condition was being met.
Italy has pushed harder than Lockheed or the Pentagon to put a FACO on Italian soil, so it's unclear whether its plan to stop work there will sway workshare decisions. Construction is expected to cost $775 million.
A March report to parliament said the FACO could "position Italy as the regional fulcrum for JSF support, significantly consolidate Italy's position in NATO," and create up to 600 jobs.
Crosetto said he had requested greater roles for Italian firms on electronic warfare and radar work on the JSF, as well as on communication, navigation and identification systems, and logistical and mission support systems.
"We have received an initial response from Lockheed Martin, that could represent a first step toward satisfying Italy's expectations if the prime contractor now follows up the letter rapidly with tangible and verifiable measures, accompanied by concrete results," he said.
The defense undersecretary received backing from at least one Italian analyst.
"Italian participation in the JSF is strategic and that is why Crosetto is right," said Michele Nones, head of the security and defense department at the Istituto Affari Internazionali, a Rome think tank partly funded by the Italian foreign ministry. "Choosing the JSF meant choosing what activties we pursue in Italy for the next 20 years. We made the choice despite some criticism in Europe ... This is also about the quality of the role Italy plays, not just work hours."
John Reed contributed to this report from Washington.
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