BERLIN (Reuters) - Top US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp (N: LMT) is studying the possibility of shift work on its multi-billion dollar F-35 fighter jet away from the average Canadian firms uncertainty about Ottawa plans to buy the plane.
Jack Crisler, Lockheed vice president of business development for the F-35 program, Lockheed Reuters was under pressure from other partner countries had made firm orders or expedited orders to change more work for them.
"This is not punitive. It's just a business," he said in a telephone interview from the Netherlands, where the F-35 will fly in his first international air show on Saturday.
Canadian companies account for development and production work on the F-35 program worth about $ 1 billion by the end of 2016, Crisler said.
But future work might be in danger if Canada decides to jump a contest and the order of F / A-18E / warplanes F built by rival Boeing Co (N: BA), as indicated by recent media reports Canadian media said.
A Defense Ministry spokesman Canada said the reports were not accurate, but gave no further information.
Crisler said Lockheed had been unable to secure a meeting with the Canadian government to discuss the issue.
He said contracts supply chain F-35 were awarded competitively in approximate purchase plans of the nine original partner countries that helped fund the development of jet radar evasion proportion: United States, Britain, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and Denmark.
The dominant liberal Canada won an election last October with a promise not to buy the F-35 because the planes were too expensive. Justin Trudeau Prime Minister told the House of Commons the conservative opposition had "clung to a plane that does not work and is far from being able to work."
Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon office F-35, said Canada remains a partner in the program of $ 379 million, and US officials continued to provide the information the Canadian government on planes because they decided how to proceed.
More than 180 of the new aircraft are flying now, including an initial squadron US Marine Corps F-35 aircraft that were declared ready for combat a year ago, he said.
Crisler said that if Canada conducted an open competition, Lockheed retain contracts with Canadian companies, but would have to reconsider whether Ottawa chose a sole supplier agreement with Boeing.
"We are evaluating everything now," he said. "The most important thing is we have to protect the company as ready to increase production."
However, in a note to clients on Friday, analyst at Macquarie konark Gupta questioned Lockheed's rhetoric, noting that the company recently received long-term F-35 contract to another Canadian supplier.
"(This) suggests that Lockheed Canada could simply be a threat to win an order of F-35," Gupta wrote.
Sixty Canadian companies had worked on the development program of the F-35, and another 70 are now involved in producing aircraft, including Magellan Aerospace (A: LMA), Crisler said.
Canadian companies participating urges Ottawa on Thursday to maintain fair and open competition to replace its fleet of CF-18 fighter aircraft. Their supply contracts, wrote in the joint statement, Canada depended on buying the F-35.
"Not the selection of the F-35 will launch a chain of events that will see hundreds of millions of dollars of lost investment and high-tech jobs leaving Canada, aimed at countries that are buying the F-35 "they said.
