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By
GORDON I. PETERSON
Senior Editor
Sea
Power: What role does your organization perform for British Aerospace [BAe]
globally?
Ennis:
British Aerospace North America provides services and support for BAe
operations, projects, and presence within North America, and broadly
assists the rest of BAe worldwide--because of major projects like the
JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] and T-45 [Goshawk training aircraft] that the
company is involved in, because the U.S. is the bellwether for trends
within defense and aerospace, and because so many of the systems that
are marketed throughout the world contain components that require
interface with the U.S. government for their license and export.
What
is the status and what is your outlook for the BAe-Marconi Electronic
Systems merger?
We
have five of the six required permissions: Australia, Canada, South
Africa, the EU [European Union], and--provided the company satisfies
certain concerns of the government--the United Kingdom. In the United
States, we are cleared for national security. What we await is clearance
from the Department of Justice for any anticompetition considerations.
We believe that will occur prior to the year's end.
The
merged company will have a considerable ability in aerospace and
defense. The breadth of our range ensures that we are able to address
the requirements for state of the art, full solutions. The depth of our
range ensures that we produce cost-effective solutions.
Is
BAe expanding its emphasis on industry-military teaming and more
comprehensive customer support?
The
most effective solutions to defense requirements flow from long-term
relationships between the military and industry. Such relationships
prevent silly solutions being proposed, allow scarce resources to be
wisely spent in pursuit of military needs, and shorten the learning
curve. Of late there is an increased emphasis on customer support--part
and parcel of the ongoing relationship between the military and
industry. With fewer defense dollars, much more attention needs to be
placed on the extended life of systems and the prevention of failure.
BAe's
management philosophy states that you aspire to be the benchmark for the
industry in engineering excellence. What does this vision entail?
We
measure our current practices against the best practices found in
industry--regardless where they may be. Where we find that we have less
than the best practice, we have put in place processes that tell us why
our practice differs and how we can improve until we have the best
practice. Where we find strengths, those processes ensure that we remain
a best-practice company.
The
actual doing of this hinges on convincing everyone that this is what we
want to do--what we value and reward. Our chairman gives awards for
innovation. An example this year: the person who improved the way water
treatment was done at his plant and saved $175,000 a year. He was
recognized personally and publicly--throughout the company.
Please
assess your collaboration with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman on
the JSF program?
Very
strong. We're the team with the track record of successful fighter
aircraft programs with the armed forces of the U.K. and U.S. Northrop
Grumman and Lockheed Martin are stealth. BAe is STOVL [short
takeoff/vertical landing]; the Harrier is the only practical jump-jet
fighter, and we have been at it since the very first days of the Kestrel
project in the 1950s. Our team approach to the JSF program uses the best
skills each member has to offer. The U.S. and U.K. will find the
Lockheed Martin team's aircraft to be everything they wanted--with
nothing they didn't want.
What
are the key factors and trends that will affect aerospace and defense
next century?
Consolidations
will continue, perhaps not at the pace of the last five years, but until
there are two or three very large players globally--each with a U.S.
component. We intend to be part of one of those.
Globalization
will continue as a simple matter of practicality and affordability, not
some nefarious plot. It is so expensive to develop and sustain high-end
technology that duplicative facilities and capabilities between
companies, or nations, can be ruinous. Collab-orative globalization is a
natural evolution of industry, and, between like-minded countries with
long histories of cooperation, can produce very cost-effective
expenditures of taxpayers' money for military capabilities second to
none.
The
lines between military, defense, and aerospace industries will continue
to blur. Best-practice will produce the most capability for the least
expenditure. The real giants of the next century will be those who take
the cost out of doing something we need to do. |
