I found this story interesting (not that we don't have our own defense contract problems in the US). Mostly because I ran into a guy on a dive boat a few weeks ago that is on loan to the US Air Force from Britain as a tactical analyst for fighter configurations. He told me he had been a bit involved in the Typhoon from the British side and he had unbelievable stories about what a Charlie Foxtrot the whole joint effort was. A glaring example was that apparently the Germans have a slick method to construct and attach the Typhoon wings. So is that what the Germans do in the project? No -- they were directed to hand the tech specs to (IIRC) the Italians and the Spanish. Spain constructs the wing for one side, Italy constructs the wing for the other side, and neither of them have the experience the Germans do in the process.
He kept mentioning the whole "charity project" thing just like this article. I'm not sure I'd be raising my hand to pilot this aircraft...
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/24/ndefence124.xmlMinister furious over £20bn bill for Eurofighter
By Neil Tweedie
Last Updated: 2:07am GMT 25/11/2006
The Government threw down the gauntlet to the makers of the Eurofighter yesterday, warning that it would no longer tolerate industrial inefficiencies that had effectively turned the project into a "charity".
The Eurofighter
The cost of a single Eurofighter: £66.7 million
The attack came as new figures suggested that the cost of buying 232 Eurofighters for the RAF is set to top £20 billion making it far and away the most costly weapons project ever undertaken by Britain.
Figures released by the National Audit Office, the official spending watchdog, put the current price of a single Eurofighter, known as Typhoon in the RAF, at £66.7 million. That compares to a forecast price tag in 2003 of £56.8 million.
In a press conference coinciding with the release of the NAO's annual report on major Ministry of Defence projects, Lord Drayson, the minister for defence procurement, criticised the four-nation European consortium, describing it as "not fit for purpose".
Ominously, he refused to confirm that the RAF would be allowed to buy the third and final batch of the 232 aircraft order, totalling 88 aircraft.
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Loss of some or all of the "Tranche 3" aircraft would threaten hundreds of jobs at BAE plants in Lancashire.
"The current structure of the national collaboration and the industrial collaboration is not fit for purpose," said Lord Drayson, who criticised Eurofighter for charging too much for spares and the use of aircraft to test the new advanced air-to-air missile, Meteor.
The company, he said, had to be restructured if the RAF was to receive adequate support during the fighter's operational career.
Sir Peter Spencer, the civil servant in charge of procurement, was equally uncompromising, saying: "We are going to turn this charity into a business and a cost-effective business.
"We are not prepared to pay inflated prices for risks we believe should be under the control of industry."
For the second year running the MoD has been allowed by Parliament to exclude crucial figures on the Eurofighter from the NAO report to protect its bargaining position with the consortium.
The most important is the "current forecast cost" of the entire project to the taxpayer. In 2003 it was £19.67 billion. Increases in labour costs and changes to software will easily take that figure higher if Tranche 3 is bought.
Military experts said the temptation for the Government to cut some or all of Tranche 3 must be enormous, given the pressures on the defence budget caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The MoD has not yet signed the final contract committing itself to the purchase. Asked about Tranche 3, Lord Drayson said: "We are absolutely interested in negotiating."
Critics of Eurofighter-Typhoon argue that it is a Cold War relic that has consumed far too much of the MoD's scarce resources.
Conceived 20 years ago to combat agile Soviet fighters, the aircraft, made by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, is only now entering squadron service after delays and doubts over its future. The RAF wants to use it in Afghanistan next year.
