Vought official says U.S. content rule not an obstacle for Pampa 2000

Defense Daily, June 15, 1993

The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board's stipulation that the Air Force-Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) have a significant U.S. content, is not a problem for Vought Aircraft, a company official said June 7.

Vought's candidate, the Pampa 2000, will have between an 85 and 90 percent U.S. content, which relates to U.S. jobs, Steve Yarbrough, the company's vice president for JPATS, said in a telephone interview. Though some of the plane's procured items will still be foreign, Vought announced about two months ago that all JPATS fabrication would be done totally in the U.S, he explained. Vought is teamed with FMA of Argentina to offer the Pampa 2000 for JPATS.

Industry officials told Defense Daily last month that at the May 19 DAB it was decided that JPATS had to have at least a 70 percent content (Defense Daily, May 24). Since that time it has been reported that the U.S. content percentage could be as high as 85 percent and a number of JPATS competitors have complained that the Pentagon has not clearly defined whether the U.S. content stipulation means jobs, U.S.-made parts or a combination of both. A synopsis of the DAB's acquisition decision memorandum (ADM) is expected to be released any day.

The only thing of significance on Vought's contender that will not be

fabricated in the U.S. is the plane's landing gear, which is made by Israel Aircraft Industries in Israel, Yarbrough said. Also, there are some European components in the aircraft's flight control actuators, he said.

The Pampa 2000's ejection seats also will be provided by Britain's Martin-Baker, but that firm has indicated it may do a large majority of its production work in the U.S., Yarbrough said. Some of the other JPATS team leaders-Beech, Grumman and Lockheed--also plan to use the Martin-Baker seats for their candidates.

Two non-missionized versions of Vought's JPATS plane have flown 800 hours, company spokesman Jerry Dalton said. The Pampa 2000's Allied Signal-built engine, which also powers Learjets used by the Air Force, has accumulated about 10 million flying hours. Vought missionized one of its Pampa 2000s and that aircraft entered a flight test program late last month (Defense Daily, June 1). The missionized plane has flown about six and a half hours so far and is flown almost every other day, Dalton noted. The company expects to have a second missionized plane in the air by the beginning of July.

A Pampa 2000 flown by Argentine pilots crashed a week prior to the Farnborough Air Show in September, and a British Accident Investigation Board attributed the incident to lack of preparation before the flight, and found no technical problems with the airframe itself. Vought did not ground the Pampa 2000 because of the crash and continued flight tests, Dalton noted.

Yarbrough said his only concern about the JPATS program is that it is not moving as fast as the company would like, with the DAB's ADM taking several days to be released, thus delaying release of an updated draft request for proposals (RFPs).

However, there is a desire on DoD's part to keep the RFP release date of Oct. 1 and contract award by next summer, to avoid losing any of the FY '94 money for JPATS, he said.