The Impact of U.S. Export Control and Technology Transfer Regime on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Project A UK Perspective

Abstract

The research assessed the international impact of the U.S. export control and technology transfer regime, with a focus on the UK experience with the U.S. requirements as they relate to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and the impact on logistical support for the JSF fleet. UK government and industry representatives indicated agreement with the goals of U.S. policy, skepticism regarding the impact of those policies on effective project management, and harsh criticism of the process by which the U.S. controls are implemented. The data indicated that interviewees found U.S. requirements generated significant delay, increased costs, dampened initiative to increase capability or efficiency, established critical and unnecessary restrictions on information sharing, and constructed barriers to effective supply chains. The UK representatives believed that the U.S. has generated a complex system which attempts to regulate all items, and thereby fails to provide a focus on effective security for truly sensitive items. With regard to the impact of U.S. requirements on the future JSF logistical support arrangements, it was too early in the process for UK interviewees to have solid views. There was great sympathy for UK firms to design around U.S. requirements and avoid becoming enmeshed in the U.S. regime.