BAE Says U.S. Export Ban on F-22 May Help Eurofighter in Japan By Steve Rothwell
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- BAE Systems Plc said it may win more orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from countries including Japan if the U.S. government maintains a prohibition on exports of F-22 fighter planes.
``We have a specific opportunity with the Typhoon aircraft, which is up against the F-22,'' Alan Garwood, the London-based company's director of business development, said at the Farnborough International Air Show outside London. ``The Japanese have looked at Typhoon. They like the look of it.''
Eurofighter GmbH, owned by BAE, European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co. and Finmeccanica SpA's Alenia Aeronautica, has already won a combined 87 export orders for its planes from Saudi Arabia and Austria. EADS is bidding to supply as many as 126 of the 1,500-mile-an-hour jets to India's air force and is seeking to sell to Switzerland.
BAE is willing to share more of its technology with Japanese companies than the U.S. would allow with the F-22 program, Garwood said yesterday in an interview.
Exports of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-22, the world's most advanced stealth fighter, are at present blocked by U.S. law. That may change with a new presidential administration. The plane, known as the Raptor, is the most expensive fighter jet ever, with an inflation-adjusted cost of $195 million apiece, according to Pentagon figures.
``Typhoon is almost as capable; the big difference is the F-22 is stealthy,'' Garwood said. The Eurofighter is a ``very cost-effective plane,'' he added.
Production in Japan
While Japan might prefer the F-22, purchasing the Eurofighter may bring production to the country. A sale would allow BAE to establish Japan as a so-called home market where it manufactures and sells products, joining the U.K., the U.S., South Africa, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
The Eurofighter program, conceived 20 years ago during the Cold War for air defense against Soviet MiG warplanes, is jointly owned by the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain.
BAE is also looking to build its business in South Korea and India. The company is in talks with Korea about the sale of land-systems equipment, as well as radar and command- control systems.
Defense spending in Korea will be greater than in the U.K. within five years as the U.S. accelerates a pull back from the Southeast Asian nation, according to Garwood.
``That is a huge market and we are very actively looking to try and qualify this as a home market,'' he said.
The company said in November it will work with Indian information technology company Wipro Ltd. to develop electronic products for combat planes and business jets. BAE is also in talks with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. to build a version of its RG31 Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected vehicles, or MRAPs.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8rHcTmuQ62g&refer=home
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