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U.S.-Japan Fighter Aircraft: Agreement on F-2 Production

NSIAD-97-76 Published: Feb 11, 1997. Publicly Released: Feb 21, 1997.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request and a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the status of the F-2 fighter aircraft program, focusing on the: (1) proportion of production work that will be done in the United States and how the U.S. workshare will be calculated and monitored; (2) status of technology transfers from Japan to the United States and whether these technologies are of interest to the U.S. government and industry; and (3) program's potential contributions to Japan's future aerospace plans.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Defense Security Assistance Agency, as the lead U.S. agency for the F-2 program, to collect sufficient data to determine the value of production work received by U.S. companies at the end of the program. This can be accomplished by collecting data from Lockheed Martin, General Electric, and a selection of the smaller contractors involved in this program. Collection of such data will allow the Defense Security Assistance Agency to assess the soundness of the production phase approach to workshare allocation and tracking for use in future cooperative programs.
Closed – Implemented
DOD has developed and implemented a plan to periodically poll industry on the value of contracts received from Japan under the F-2 program. The first polling took place in October 1997.

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Topics

Aerospace industryContract administrationMilitary technologyExport regulationFighter aircraftInternational cooperationManufacturing contractsMilitary coproduction agreementsTechnology transferU.S. Air Force