One thing is certain, it will be much more difficult for Ellen Lord from now on to try to argue for the opening of the American market to European Defense companies, in the context of the tensions surrounding PESCO. Indeed, and without this having any connection, the American Congress, through the House Appropriation Committee, approved the financing of the FFG/X program, the very one which must provide the US Navy in a very short deadlines for around twenty modern frigates, only if all of the equipment constituting the buildings is manufactured in the United States.
However, of the 4 finalists selected by the US Navy, Lockheed-Martin having decided to give up presenting a frigate based on its LCS, two offers are proposed by European companies, in partnership with American shipyards. This is the case of the Spanish Navantia, which offers a frigate based on the F110, as well as the Italian Fincantieri, which offers a structure from the FREMM program. It seems certain that the price assessments of the two European groups included a certain form of price optimization by using components manufactured in Europe. They therefore risk, if they fail to adapt quickly, being excluded from the competition for non-compliance...
This also shows, and above all, that the United States, and more particularly the defense investment specialists in Congress, are perfectly aware of the effects of budget return regarding these investments. The parliamentary requirement is more, in fact, due to the attention paid to the federal budget and the resilience of the US economy, than to any form of conservatism. And once we understand how federal defense investment works in the United States, we understand how the country manages to invest such amounts, and offer such significant financial aid to support its export offers. For example, to guarantee the $1,6 billion contract for the retrofit of the Greek F16s to the block70 standard, the United States accompanied the bill with aid of more than $600 million, knowing full well that the revenue tax generated by this contract will greatly exceed this amount.
It is high time that Europeans, and especially the French, become aware of the obsolescence and ineffectiveness of the economic paradigms in use for constructing the Defense budget.
