Eurofighter drops Norway and Denmark tenders
By Robert Anderson in Stockholm

Published: December 23 2007 18:35 | Last updated: December 23 2007 18:35

The Eurofighter consortium has pulled out of tenders in Norway and Denmark for more than 100 fighter jets, complaining that it is “ill at ease” with changes in the procurement process.

Eurofighter’s “suspension” of its participation is an embarrassment for Norway and Denmark, but it also reflects the fact that it was losing ground in both tenders, which have become a dogfight between Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and Saab’s Gripen.

Norway is due to issue a request for binding information early next month for its next generation of fighters and aims to choose a winner at the end of the year, while Denmark should decide in 2009.

Eurofighter’s failure in its European home market comes as the UK and Italy, both consortium members, are considering cutting their orders. Eurofighter, a consortium of Britain’s BAE Systems, EADS (the Franco-German-Spanish aerospace and defence company) and Finmeccanica of Italy, has so far won contracts only for the Typhoon in Austria and Saudia Arabia outside its members’ home countries.

Eurofighter’s withdrawal is believed to reflect fears that the Norwegian tender has been skewed in Lockheed’s favour because the US company will not have to make the same industrial offset commitments as its European rivals.

These pledges to invest in the purchasing country are a key factor in many arms deals and have often been a trump card for European bidders in their home market.

Lockheed has long been the favourite in the Norwegian and Danish tenders because both countries already fly its F-16 fighter and are part of the company’s JSF development project.

But Norway insists that it has tried to open up the tender process to replace the F-16s by allocating funds for small-scale industrial co-operation ventures with both Saab and the Eurofighter consortium that could be developed into offset projects. “We have been trying to level the playing field,” said Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s deputy defence minister.

Yet Norway has also informed Saab and Eurofighter that Lockheed will not have to provide the same offset commitments, because any purchase from the US company would be a government-to-government deal, making company investment pledges problematic.

Mr Eide insisted that, whichever it chose, Norway would still demand investments, whether through offsets or the JSF development programme. “We will look for real industrial participation in each programme, regardless of its name,” he said.

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f4f81670-b183 ... ck_check=1

Hi,

it is yet to see how "cheap" the F-35 turns out to be in the end and when all the advertised capabilities will be available (if at all)?

With funding limited the total number of F-35 might go the same way as it did for the Raptor and I would not be surprised if US Services purchase considerable less than originally planned.

If the USAF buys only as many F-35s as Raptors, we are talking about downsizing the USAF to a 300+ fighter air force (ala the French Armee de air) I just don't see that happening. The US economy is, give or take, the size of the EU as a whole and the US takes defense and power projection much more seriously than the welfarist-socialist-liberal European nations. At the minimum, US air power will be at least that of the EU as a whole; probably a tad more. That is at least a 1500 fighter force.

But the F-35 will only replace older versions of F-16s and A-10s. Most of the Block 30 and higher aircraft will remain in service. So when you think about it, its still a good chance for the US to cut the original order of F-35s.

Yes, the F-16 is in dire need of replacement. Not just the earlier blocks. The current ops tempo is really making a near future replacement absolutely necessary.

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