Northrop, BAE withdrawal cuts T-X bidders to
two
01 FEBRUARY, 2017 SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM
BY: STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC
Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems have decided
not to submit a bid for a $16 billion US Air Force contract for 300-350
advanced jet trainers, narrowing a once diverse field to as little as two
competitors.
The announcement on 1 February comes after
Northrop Grumman chief executive Wes Bush warned analysts last week that the
company was reassessing the business case for submitting a bid. One analyst
speculated that Bush was simply applying pressure on Northrop’s T-X bidding
team to keep bidding prices in check, but instead the company decided the
benefits of winning the contract outweighed the costs.
Submitting a bid for the T-X Trainer contract
“would not be in the best interest of the companies and their shareholders,”
Northrop and BAE said in a statement issued jointly on 1 February.
The sudden withdrawal means the Boeing/Saab
and Lockheed Martin/Korea Aerospace Industries teams remain committed to
responding to the USAF’s request for proposals from late-December. Last week,
Raytheon withdrew as the prime contractor for a bid based on the Leonardo
T-100, leaving the Italian manufacturer to evaluate options for participating
in the competition. Leonardo has not yet announced if the it will team with
another US company, submit an independent bid or withdraw.
Northrop’s decision to bow out of the USAF
competition surprised many industry analysts. The T-X contract, after all, will
replace one of Northrop’s successful franchises, with the 400-strong T-38C
Talon fleet approaching more than 55 years in service. For nearly a decade,
Northrop has participated in every step of the USAF’s extended process for
organising the competition. The Aerospace Systems segment invested heavily in
Northrop’s bid, commissioning in-house rapid prototyping expert Scaled
Composites to build and fly a prototype internally designated as the Model 400.
In his remarks last week, Bush made it clear
that the terms of the USAF’s RfP made Northrop think twice about submitting a
bid. He cited other ongoing competitions, such as a bidding war to recapitalise
JSTARS, as more interesting to Northrop, as the USAF seems more willing to
reward greater performance by allowing higher prices. If the T-X contract
forces bidders to win on price alone, Northrop prefers to compete for new
business elsewhere.
Boeing/Saab and Lockheed/KAI also are flying
dedicated prototypes, including Boeing’s clean-sheet T-X in St. Louis and
Lockheed’s T-50A in Greenville, South Carolina.
Original post: flightglobal.com
Related post:
KAI T-50: Details
No comments:
Post a Comment