Vanguard Magazine

I In ServIce Support www.vanguardcanada.com AprIL/MAY 2017 35 ing arrangement may replicate problems encountered in earlier collaborative fighter efforts, such as in Tornado or Eurofighter. Thus from the U.S. perspective, three dis- tinct risks have been identified. First, ensuring the security of supply and prioritizing the allocation of scarce spares resources; second, configuration manage- ment and control, and managing technol- ogy innovators versus laggards; and third, managing "shirkers," or those participants unable or unwilling to pay their agreed share to the spares pool. Whereas shirk- ing was not a serious problem in previous programs, the first two may be difficult to avoid. Although, they were successfully avoided in the C-17 program due to the fact that the USAF played a dominant role. Furthermore, since partners' F-35 fleets are allowed to diverge in configuration, contract incentives for the prime sustain- ment contractor have to be tailored to various fleets (in terms of performance metrics and priorities) so that these fleets are serviced with the same priority as the larger U.S. fleet. Though, approximately 80 per cent of parts being identical across the three JSF versions, maintenance and logistics will be simpler overall and, of course, more economical than sustaining different classes of aircraft. Yet the price tag for sustainment and operational costs hover around $1 trillion over the JSF project's estimated lifetime. Underlining the difference between the Joint Strike Fighter project and its prede- cessors, the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, will be responsible for global deliv- ery of F-35 sustainment for all of the F-35 customers under a Performance Based Agreement (PBA) with JPO. This sustain- ment project will be managed on a global basis by Lockheed Martin but delivered lo- cally through partners and sub-contractors under a separate Performance Based Logis- tics (PBL) contract with the JPO. Any policy lessons? The approach a country takes to sustain- ment must be tailored to that country's needs and abilities. In fact, Australia's spa- tial isolation and strategic environment impose high priorities for the Australian Defence Force's operational readiness and hence for their equipment's sustainment be performed domestically. Country-spe- cific factors, both industrially and strategi- cally, have been flexibly incorporated into the F-35 global sustainment design. Moreover, given the increasing relevance of expeditionary operations, MRO sites must also be matched to front lines. In fact, MRO venues for the F-35 have already been allocated to the UK, Australia, Italy, Turkey, Holland and Norway by the JPO. Matching Canadian F-35 subcontractors as parts manufacturers to MRO needs, an F-35 equipped Canada may win, beyond manufacturing subcontractorships, some sustainment contracts. Ugurhan G. Berkok is Assoc. prof. of Econ. at the royal Military College, and Adjunct prof. at Queen's univ. Econ. Dept. (BA Econ. from Bosphorus univ., November 1-2, 2017 A 2 Day Conference London Convention Centre 300 York Street - London, Ontario, CANADA For more information, please contact: Heather Pilot: hpilot@pilothill.ca | 519.851.9848 Holly Doty: Holly Doty: holly@connectdot.ca | 519.204.2499 Early Bird Registration Ends October 3, 2017 Register at: www.bestdefenceconference.com Media Partner Brought to you by REGISTER NOW! turkey, MA Quantitative Econ. from univ. East Anglia, uK and phD in Economics from Queen's univ.) His previous posi- tions were at Laval, McGill, Montréal, uQAM, Concordia and Sussex in the uK. His current teaching interests include defence and national security economics, and health economics. His current research interests include defence procurement, defence industrial policy (offsets, in-service support, munitions management, ppps), defence alliances, defence force generation, intelligence agencies and coordination in intelligence.

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