Transatlantic Armaments Cooperation - Federation of American ...

Steering Committee and supporting subcommittee
meetings are held at least semi-annually,
rotating locations between the U.S. and an EPG
country, but can be held more frequently to
cover special topics. These meetings cover F-
16 sustainment, software updates, and MLU
concerns, but since the start of the MLU program,
MLU concerns have dominated the
agenda. The sometimes unglamorous “roll-upthe-sleeves”-level
effort performed by the subcommittees
has been highly valuable in resolving
issues on the program. Discussions are
frank and open, and often contractor participation
is invited. There is a strong drive toward
harmonization, consensus, and resolution at the
subcommittee level. Individual subcommittees
report on progress and issues at each Steering
Committee meeting. Those relatively few issues
unable to be resolved in the subcommittees
are referred to the Steering Committee with
options and recommendations. 23
Throughout its 25 years of existence, the subcommittee
structure has been able to resist the
inevitable bureaucratic inertia and has proved
fairly flexible. As the F-16 program has matured,
the focus today has shifted from design
and production to sustainment and selected
upgrades. Accordingly, the SCIM, an extremely
active body during the program’s early and
middle years, is now dormant. 24
With the emphasis on sustainment and Integrated
Weapon System Management (IWSM),
the separate OSC/LSC were successfully
merged into a single entity, reflecting the close
link between operational requirements and
supportability. This merged subcommittee has
had the difficult job of maximizing harmonization
of disparate requirements and schedules
to lower overall cost. In the case of MLU,
perfect consensus was not always required. The
program was structured to accommodate some
kit differences for each customer, such as
4-33
options for electronic warfare and weapons
provisions. The MOU allows for flexible cost
sharing arrangements between participants and
also has provisions for those participants with
unique requirements. The U.S. prime operational
representative to this key Subcommittee
has been for many years the Chief of Fighter
Requirements at the USAF Air Combat Command.
This has been a major plus in providing
needed support through the dynamic U.S.
requirements and budget process and aiding
other national primes with operational background
on that committee. The existence of
color cockpit displays in the MLU kit can be
credited largely to the persistence of an influential
Dutch pilot representative on this subcommittee,
who questioned the display’s prohibitively
high development cost and worked
with LMAC to research affordable alternatives.
The USAF is now retrofitting its newest F-16s
with this MLU-developed display, enhancing
pilot situational awareness and improving
avionics utility. 25
The C&F Subcommittee also benefited from
well placed and dedicated staffing. This subcommittee
faced numerous difficulties with
national budget processes working at differing
cycles, and an acute, ongoing interest from the
various national audit bodies. Committee members
devoted substantial time to answering inquiries
from and briefing multiple international
audit and inspection agencies. Part of the effort
was spent in educating auditors on national
laws and policies, vital in maintaining collective
governmental confidence in this multibillion
dollar program. Despite this level of
attention, problems arose on occasion. For example,
European auditors had different interpretations
of U.S. legal requirements for protection
of certain financial information LMAC
considered proprietary. Often there were
practical workarounds to audit issues. The U.S.
GAO performed an unusual role in providing