Le JSF, la Norvège et la délicatesse US (merci, Wikileaks)

Le JSF, la Norvège et la délicatesse US (merci, Wikileaks)

Grâce à la vigilance de Bill Sweetman, à nouveau en pleine exploration du cas JSF, on a quelques échos du comportement US dans le cas du “choix” du JSF par la Norvège à l’automne 2008, qui avait beaucoup surpris. (Depuis, la Norvège est revenue sur ce “choix”, et sur la pointe des pieds).

Notamment, la surprise avait concerné l’élimination du Gripen, pourtant largement favori, avec beaucoup d’avantages, etc. Sur son blog, le 3 décembre 2010, Bill Sweetman rapporte des détails recueillis de plusieurs documents Wikileaks, repris par le quotidien suédois Aftenbladet. On y retrouve les habituelles et délicates méthodes US dans cette sorte d’occurrence, et la démonstration in vivo que les Suédois, qui ont autour de 40% de l’équipement du Gripen d’origine US, sont complètement prisonniers des USA à cet égard.

«WikiLeaks cables show that US officials recommended delaying export approvals for a new Raytheon radar in order to undercut the Saab Gripen NG's chances in Norway, before the country's December 2008 decision to acquire the Joint Strike Fighter. The cables were originally reported (and linked) by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

»The original Norwegian decision surprised and puzzled observers, both because of its tough repudiation of the Gripen and because of the $52 million quoted price of the JSF – which was a reach in 2008 and now appears ludicrous, with the US estimating $92 million in base-year dollars and Lockheed Martin hoping for $60 million flyaway (really a tow-away, because the engine is extra).

»US officials, including then deputy defense secretary Gordon England, also warned the Norwegian government that “the choice of aircraft will have an impact on the bilateral relationship” between the two countries – but the second-in-command at Norway's defense ministry asked the US government to deny that any political pressure had been applied.

»Along the way, US ambassador to Norway Benson Whitney dismissed then Norwegian defense minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen as “weak”, and, while describing her subordinate Espen Barth Eide as “regarded as the force which steers the defense ministry”, added that “very senior US officials... characterized Barth Eide as 'weasily' [sic]”.

»According to documents, Swedish defense minister Sten Tolgfors met with Michael Wood, US ambassador to Sweden, in June 2008 to discuss the possibility of adapting a Raytheon active electronically scanned array (AESA) for Gripen NGs in the Nordic region. At the time, Saab had an agreement with Thales to use that company's AESA technology in the Gripen Demo prototype but had not made a decision about a production configuration.

»Wood had previously reviewed the request, on which Sweden expected a decision in September, but on July 9 advised the Defense Department to put the request on hold until Norway had made its decision…»

dedefensa.org