Europe has its A400M the United States were the F35

Europe has its A400M, the United States were the F35. On the one hand, one military transport plane, the other the future of the U.S. air force fighter aircraft. In both cases, jewellery technology, but, above all, the weapons poorly programs controlled originally important financial excesses. But where the European plane is a little more than 5 billion euros of additional costs, the second was inflating his Bill of... 100 billion since its launch! A such teaches that, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is to freeze 614 million payments to Lockheed Martin for "underperformance" and to dismiss the head of the project at the Pentagon.

Washington, the message was seen five out of five American industry: Barack Obama certainly presented a budget 2011 to 549 billion, an increase of 2.8 for the Army (out of afghan and Iraqi conflicts), but the US President intend to stop financial mismanagement of major programs. "The time when budgets were progressing from 4 to 6 per year has passed," confirms Leo Michel, consultant at the Institute for National Strategic Studies and former Pentagon official.

Just published, the "Quadrennial Defense Review" - the American equivalent of our book white of defence - promises so a vast reform of American strategy. So far, the United States had as aim to conduct two regional conflicts of "high intensity", in which would be used at the same time cohort fighter, carrier or heavy tanks, somewhat on the model of the battles of Midway and Kursk in 1942 and 1943. This goal, in recent years the Pentagon multiplied large programs, to the delight of industry, thereby triggering a race to expensive, difficult to stop, but especially in part inappropriate technology.

Since September 11, 2001, in effect, the nature of the commitments has turned to fighting so-called "asymmetric", between a strong army to a small supposed enemy, but whose capacity of nuisance are undeniable, and - especially - scalable. The image of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah or, of course, of what is happening in Afghanistan. What is it transforming arms into centres of computer calculations, when the best answer to the makeshift explosive remains shielding and human intelligence In 2009, the U.S. air force has trained more operators drone than pilots of aircraft!

Or Afghanistan type situations will remain the standard for some time, according to us strategists, who therefore response to asymmetric conflict their new priority. Preparing for a major war is not abandoned, but simply considered less urgent. The allocation of budgets reflects this change in focus: money will go first to the helicopters, to the protection of the infantry or special forces.

Great programs to stay

In this context, some major programmes are clearly stay, and both worse if they have already devoured billions of dollars: strategic lift aircraft C17, second engine of the F35, FSC - a kind of extreme digitization of the battlefield... Unless the Congress has the final word, they know the same fate as the Constellation of (re) conquest of the Moon project. More generally, "we must continue to reform the way we buy," warned Robert Gates, which promises the hiring of professional 20,000 in the Pengatone to put an end to chronic underestimation of programs and cut in the number of ongoing projects. Too focused on the development of equipment of the "20th century", American industry will have to carry out its revolution, doing a little more space technologies dual, that is usable in civilian applications such as military.

Secretary of State for defence has also put forward in the "Quadrennial Defense Review" the need to reform the system of control the export of sensitive U.S. technologies thoroughly. "A relic of the cold war" that prevents some manufacturers sell direct and limit transfers of technology to certain countries. "The United States are no longer alone in developing critical arms", it loose. European manufacturers are: their American counterparts will earn margins of manoeuvre to export. A condition, here again, the Obama administration to succeed to pass addition to Congress, which, unlike the French Parliament for example, can block any sale of weapons abroad.