BY : star-telegram.com



Just a few years ago, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter was widely viewed as the world’s leading next-generation, high-technology aircraft, with no strong Western competitor.

That’s no longer the case.

Saab, the Swedish industrial conglomerate better known in the U.S. for performance cars than airplanes, has impressed potential aircraft buyers with an aggressive marketing campaign for its upgraded Gripen fighter jet.

Denmark and Norway, two nations that have invested in the F-35, are now holding competitions pitting the F-35 against the Gripen. Denmark is also considering the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Defense officials in the Netherlands, pressured by minority parties swayed by Sweden’s "buy from your neighbor pitch," are conducting a "review of alternatives" that include the F-35, Gripen, F/A-18 and perhaps later model F-16s.

Led by a cocky, even brash Scotsman with a wicked sense of humor and a sharp needle, Saab has become a presence in the world combat-aircraft market and at events like last week’s Farnborough Air Show.

With a boast here and jab there, Bob Kemp, senior vice president of international sales for Gripen, has complicated Lockheed and U.S. government efforts to secure sales for the F-35 and F-16.

"In my opinion, the JSF is not [a fighter], it’s a bomb truck," not well-suited to the aerial dogfighting role, Kemp said in an interview at the air show.

If the bad guys are after you in a hot fighter plane, such as the latest Russian designs, Kemp says he wouldn’t want to be an F-35 pilot. "You can’t outrun [the enemy plane], and you sure can’t out-turn him."

It’s a bold comment and certainly one Lockheed officials disagree with.

The F-35’s primary role is ground attack, but it can more than take care of itself in aerial combat, says Tom Burbage, Lockheed’s executive vice president for the F-35 and, essentially, its chief salesman.

The F-35 is hard to detect with radar and has numerous other sensors and systems to tell the pilot what is going on around him. As a result, Burbage says the F-35 pilot "can dictate the terms of engagement" and choose how and when to attack the enemy.

Burbage says that Lockheed welcomes the comparisons and scrutiny from other nations, but warned that if buying decisions are postponed too long, it could lead to production delays and higher costs for the F-35 program.

The key decision points will come around 2010 when Lockheed and the U.S. would like to see its eight partner nations place orders for production aircraft. The more planes that are ordered early, the faster production can be accelerated and the sooner costs will come down. And boosting F-35 production will likely mean additional workers at the company’s massive plant in west Fort Worth.

"A lot of our effort now is to firm up the production commitments," Burbage said.

Burbage says he’s not overly concerned at this point about the political noises coming out of Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.

"I don’t think anything has changed," Burbage said. "Those countries always planned to hold competitions." Norway has invested money in the Gripen and Eurofighter programs, as well as the JSF.

Burbage doesn’t think that the Gripen, Eurofighter and even the F-16 and F/A-18, will have the future capabilities of the F-35.

Other governments must also decide if they want aircraft that are not compatible for operating jointly with the U.S. and other NATO countries that will fly F-35s.

"If Norway decides they no longer want to be part of coalition operations, that would be a fairly dramatic change," he said.

Selling the Gripen

Kemp’s sales pitch for the Gripen is equal parts combat strategy and tactics, technology, costs and, in Northern Europe at least, appeals to regional unity.

It’s a message that has gotten the attention of foreign politicians concerned about the rising price tag of the F-35 and being seen by left-leaning voters as being too close to the United States.

The Bush administration’s "you’re either with us or against us" approach to the war on terrorism has offended many European voters and officials, Kemp says. It’s a perception he’s trying to exploit by saying that with the Gripen, buyers are in control of their aircraft.

Gripen will come with all the software codes and technical knowledge that buyers will need to modify and maintain their own aircraft, Kemp says.

The U.S., in contrast, is keeping close tabs on F-35 technology, although British and Italian officials said this week they are satisfied with arrangements made to provide them with key data.

Although the U.S. is offering its partner nations a chance to bid on contracts for components and parts, Kemp suggests those countries aren’t getting a good return on their investment. Gripen is offering Norway and Denmark a 100 percent return, saying it will do business with the buying countries in areas other than aerospace.

The F-35’s stealth is touted as a big advantage, but Kemp says that "stealth alone is not the answer to survivability." The Gripen’s speed and maneuverability, Kemp says, as well as "superior defensive technology," make it much tougher to shoot down than the F-35.

It isn’t just the F-35 customers Gripen is after. It is competing against the F-16 for fighter-jet sales in Brazil, India and the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. Kemp maintains that the Gripen is a more modern, more effective fighter than the F-16 — and it costs less.

Kemp says U.S.-made components account for one-third of the value of the Gripen. Raytheon and Honeywell are major suppliers and have invested their own money in tailoring systems for the aircraft.

The airplane will be powered by a General Electric engine nearly identical to that used in the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which means that the Swedish plane will benefit from work paid for largely by U.S. taxpayers.

"We’re grateful to you for that," Kemp says.

Lockheed’s challenge

Kemp likened the competition between the Gripen and the F-35 to a tennis match.

"We’re up at the net, and JSF is at the back of the court. We’ve got them on the run."

Richard Aboulafia, an industry analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said the odds of Gripen or another fighter being chosen by any of the primary European partners "are not great."

Burbage said he believes that come crunch time, if all goes well with the F-35 testing program, the partner nations will opt to buy the F-35.

Not only will the F-35 have more advanced combat capabilities than any other aircraft, Burbage said, the technology will make it easier and less costly to operate than any other available jets.

Lockheed, Burbage says, has to show in the next year or two that it can keep to its schedule for building and flight testing the rest of the development aircraft without any major, unforeseen problems.

The second F-35 test aircraft made its sixth test flight last week, Burbage said, with no serious issues discovered.

Italian and British government officials told reporters at a briefing they are hopeful that continuing discussions with Lockheed and the U.S. government would result in a consortium buy that would give their countries more planes sooner at lower costs.

Britain has ordered two F-35Bs, the short-takeoff-vertical-landing model, to be included in the low-rate production lot to be funded in the 2009 U.S. defense budget.

"We envision," said Italian Brig. Gen. Roberto Nordio, a future with "the U.S. British and Italian air forces and navies operating side-by-side wherever freedom is at stake."