senior partner

12 March 2001

The UK has committed to the highest level of partnership on the Joint Strike Fighter programme, which promises military capability, technological development and jobs for decades to come. In January, Baroness Symons, the Minister for Defence Procurement, signed a memorandum of understanding that confirmed Britain's role as a full collaborative partner in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme. This has important implications, not just for the UK's armed forces, but for the country and its industry as a whole.

Continuing in it’s role as a full collaborative partner into the next phase - Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD), also known as Level 1 - means that Britain takes part in the selection of the final prime contractor.

"Participation in the JSF programme represents a tremendous opportunity for UK industry," said Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in a press statement. "We expect that work on the EMD phase will create or sustain 5,000 UK jobs in around 70 companies. JSF will play a crucial part in continuing our transatlantic partnership, maintaining NATO interoperability and improving European military capability."

Having been a full collaborative partner since 1996, during the concept development phase, the UK has been able to influence the design of the aircraft and direction of the programme. One example of the UK's close involvement has been the inclusion of some UK weapons in the Operation Requirement Document.

There is already a set of principles agreed between the US and the UK that go beyond EMD and which are designed to safeguard the UK's national interests, ensuring it retains the military and industrial capability to manage the aircraft effectively through its life. This is important because it is envisaged that JSF will form a critical path of the UK's offensive air capability for decades to come. There are three main variants of JSF, including a short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft that is intended to replace the Harrier GR7 and Sea Harrier FA2 aircraft of Joint Force Harrier. There is no other Harrier replacement aircraft in development. At this time, however, the UK government has not made a final decision between adopting the Harrier (CV) or STOVL version.

Pioneering Programme

For the US, JSF has proved to be a pioneering programme in terms of international co-operation, with the government encouraging higher levels of participation than it would normally consider for such a strategically important programme. Several levels of partnership have been available for both the Concept Development and EMD phases, with appropriately scaled levels of benefits and ability to influence the programme. Only the UK is participating at the highest level for each phase. His makes it a prime non-US level 1 customer and allows the UK in the down select process currently scheduled for September 2001.

The UK will contribute around £1.3bn, to EMD plus some £600m to fund work on UK-specific requirements. Total value of the JSF project has been put at $400bn, making it potentially the largest ever military procurement programme, and the UK will derive income from third-party sales. It will also reap rewards in terms of technology development and the potential for involvement in future projects.

For the UK, JSF represents an investment - not just in its defence, but also in it's future prosperity.