Politics, procurement and policy: Australia’s procurement of the Joint Strike Fighter

Abstract

This thesis shows that the current range of analytic tools for assessing Australian defence procurements is not adequate to comprehensively understand Australia’s procurement of the JSF. This requires an analysis of the politics which shape procurement outcomes and the political and economic outcomes of procurement approaches and policies. The international nature of the JSF Program requires analytical tools that incorporate political competition between international, national and sub-national actors. These politics are examined in this thesis by expanding the scope of bureaucratic-organisational models used previously, and ontologically varying the level of analysis to include international political dynamics. The value of the broader analytical framework proposed by this thesis is demonstrated by its ability to contrast Australia’s actions and policies against those of other JSF international partners. Australia’s adherence to the JSF Program’s competitive best value principle places it in a position of significant disadvantage in terms of industrial workshares, and Australia’s defence industry policy is largely incompatible with the nature of the JSF Program and the continuing use of industrial offsets. Australia has not used its political leverage as a participant in the JSF Program to push for additional economic, industrial and strategic benefits in the same manner as other nations. A comparison with other nations allowed the assumptions made by Australia in signing on the JSF Program to be tested, and the analysis conducted found many assumptions to be flawed. This thesis demonstrates that the nature of the JSP Program creates interdependencies between the US, Lockheed Martin, and all other partner nations that are not features of Australia’s previous defence procurements. The dependency of allies on the US has increased through US management of the Program on behalf of allies, particularly with regard to the single maintenance system and global supply chain. The level of alliance interoperability facilitated by the JSF contributes to reinforcing US leadership in international politics and coalition operations.