Plane Thinking - European taxpayers are propping up the US arms industry - by Eurotopia
"In 2001, when fear of a world recession was sweeping the Western world, many governments turned to the arms industry and military expenditure as a way to boost their economies. It was at this time that the US, UK and several partner countries decided to start developing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a plane designed for close air support and tactical bombing as well as being capable of air-to-air combat, in order to replace the old-fashioned Harriers and the conventional A-10 Thunderbolt II, F/A-18 Hornet and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.The multi-billion dollar contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin Corporation. Lockheed, based in Maryland USA, is the largest arms manufacturer in the world – followed by Boeing (HQ Chicago) and Northrop-Grumman (LA) – and one of the Bush administration’s favorite corporations. Even though at that point another independent European strike fighter project, the Euro fighter Typhoon, involving the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, was already in an advanced development phase, had superior capabilities and a lower cost, some European countries decided to turn to the new project. Thus, the US got the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway to commit funds to the JSF. Overall, the eight countries contributing to the first phase of the programme - the design and development of the technology - do so on three different levels. These depend on their financial stake in the project; the level of technology transfer and subcontracts open to bidding by national companies; and the general order in which countries will be able to obtain production aircraft. The UK is the sole level I partner, contributing a little over $2 billion. Italy and the Netherlands are level II partners, contributing $1 billion and $800 million respectively. At level III are Turkey ($175 million), Australia ($144 million), Norway ($122 million), Denmark ($110 million), and Canada ($100 million). Israel and Singapore are ’security cooperative participants’. It is the perfect deal - for the US. Five years into the development phase of the JSF, it is revealing that the only country still enthusiastic about the whole endeavour is the US. You can’t blame them. They got the Europeans to pay a considerable part of the development costs and at the same time retained complete control over the process and kept the relevant software even from its main ally, the UK. The juiciest research and development contracts have gone to Lockheed and a host of secondary US defence contractors. Meanwhile, the US has been able to boost its weak exports with the help of all those friendly European heads of state. And the ultimate bonus: the JSF undermined the independent European fighter project - the Eurofighter - thus averting an embarrassing situation whereby the European technological base for fighter planes would have out-manoeuvered that of the US.
The only clear winners in this game are the Bush administration and Lockheed Martin. For Europeans it’s been a doomed scenario from the start. Little return on investment; doubts about the eventual product; a lingering debate within the EU about loyalty... At the end of the day, the British, the Italians, Dutch, Norwegians and Danish have been betting on the wrong horse. But it’s not as if they were not forewarned. In all of those countries, strong opposition to the project pointed out all the dangers both before and during the political decision-making processes. Maybe it’s time the European Parliament and local parliaments face our governments, and ask them where our tax money has gone."
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