The Joint Strike Fighter during one of the early test flights.

Good progress continues to be made on the JSF Program and guaranteed access to required technology and data transfer has been obtained, according to New Air Combat Capability Program Manager, AVM John Harvey.

Addressing a Defence Watch Seminar in Canberra, AVM Harvey pointed out that by the end of February 2007, all nine JSF Partner countries had signed up for the next phase of the Program, covering JSF production, sustainment and follow-on development.

This represents a major vote of confidence in the Program – based on four years of good progress and detailed analysis by all the JSF partners – and recognition of significant potential for additional business opportunities.

In highlighting the good progress to date, AVM Harvey pointed out that the JSF Support System Centre had been established in Fort Worth and is already supporting the first test aircraft, well before it is required to support the first RAAF aircraft. “The support centre will support all JSF operations worldwide and is a significant risk mitigator for the Program,” he said.

“Importantly, the U.S. Government Accountability Office also recently acknowledged progress in a number of other key areas, including: completion of the Program re-baselining; ongoing analysis showing that the JSF is meeting all performance specifications except for one, which is dependent on progress on another program; positive progress in developing production facilities; and the benefits of some concurrency between testing and production,” AVM Harvey said.

“Closer to home, 22 Australian companies have won $150 million worth of work in the JSF’s development phase, and based on good performance to date, opportunities worth billions of dollars have been identified in the production phase,” AVM Harvey said.

“Additionally, as the JSF will introduce a number of new technologies into Australia, we are working to position Australian industry and research organisations to be able to support that technology,” he said.

To highlight the opportunities, AVM Harvey pointed to the U.S. Government funded JSF Science and Technology Advisory Board program that received 300 proposals from across the Partner nations. Twenty one of these were approved for further development and ten of them were funded. Of these ten, seven came from Australia – great recognition of Australia’s capacity for research and innovation.

As the JSF Program moves forward, DMO CEO, Dr Stephen Gumley, showed how the DMO’s job of delivering goods and services to the ADF will increase by 50% over the next five or so years. He highlighted how this had significant implications for Defence and industry workforces, project schedule, technology and international contracting.

The projection was for more SMEs in Defence supply industry, the presence of non traditional suppliers, and Defence and industry efficiently moving on to the work at hand.