Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, has said that he is looking to Spain’s 60-year shipbuilding strategy as a model for industrial participation. He disclosed he has commissioned a new defence export strategy for Australia designed to help strengthen its defence industrial base. The new strategy is due before the end of the year, together with a new Defence Industry Capability Plan.
The Omani MoD has suspended Raytheon Missile Systems’ offset projects. The ministry has discovered that the government is paying for them. The MoD is understood to have admonished the Omani Authority for Partnership for Development for agreeing to the contract, and has called for Raytheon to reimburse the money spent.
Colombia’s National Ministry of Defence is perfecting changes to the offset rules. The country will unveil a revised directive at the GOCA Fall Conference taking place October 29th-November 1st at Key Biscayne, Florida. Confirmed speaker presentations to date include the government representatives of Colombia, Peru, Norway, Israel, Malaysia, Korea, Turkey, and South Africa.
The US-India Business Council has written to India’s new defence minister regarding the status of U.S. firms as junior joint venture partners with Indian firms. The letter seeks assurances that American companies will retain control over sensitive and proprietary technology. The letter was submitted on August 3rd but was unreported until reviewed by Reuters.
Airbus has filed a submission to the Vienna Public Prosecutor in response to allegations of deception in the 2003procurement of Eurofighter combat aircraft. The submission denies all allegations made in February by the Austrian Defence Minister, Hans Peter Doskozil. Mr Doskozil argued that the costs for the offset transactions undertaken by Eurofighter were not stated separately in a proposal dated 2002, which amounted to deceit.