2016-12-02 The F-35 global enterprise provides an opportunity for leveraging collaborative efforts to shape more effective capabilities at a more effective cost point.
According to a post by Endre Lundeon December 1, 2016 from the Norwegian Ministry of Defence: How international cooperation saved us NOK 96 million in 2016.
The F-35 is a good example of how international cooperation can help us make things cheaper compared to doing it on our own.
In a bill that was presented to the Norwegian Parliament last Friday, we are for the first time confirming that the Netherlands is now part of the development effort for the F-35 brake chute, and that they in 2016 have paid us NOK 96 million to cover their share of the development costs.
This allows us to redirect the same amount of funding to other parts of the Norwegian combat aircraft program.
The brake chute is the only «Norwegian» alteration we have made in the F-35.
Where the cockpit in every other F-35 is the same, Norwegian (and soon Dutch) aircraft have a separate switch in the upper left corner of the instrument panel that deploys the chute.
Though relying on the aircraft’s hydraulics for power, it is a separate add-on system with its own wiring and hard points.
The benefit of the system is that it makes it both easier and safer to operate the F-35 on slippery runways, as we often will be doing in Norway during the winter months.