F-35 scared of Sparrows, page 3

There are a couple of reasons why the British have not (yet) received full access to the F-35's software suite:

1) U.S. law: Export control statutes state that a purchasing (or teaming) nation may not have access to classified source code for weapon or sensor systems, unless they are directly involved with the development of that code and have signed a Technology Transfer Agreement. Now, since the British are not involved with the development of the code, they do not need access. When the aircraft has been delivered to Britain, and the British have sufficient justification to require access to said code, the law stipulates that the code can then be released to that nation (or partner), but not before. This is simply a "need-to-know" policy that is enforced on a daily basis for all classified information. These facts do not impune British loyalty or trustworthiness, for the British capability for internal security and their level of trustworthiness has always been regarded as a mesuring stick for our own capabilities. It is simply the law.

2) Technology Transfer: because the goal of the JSF was to produce the most capable multi-role aircraft at the absolute lowest cost, much of the technology going into the F-35 was originally developed for other aircraft. A huge percentage of technology was lifted directly from the F-22 Raptor, including steath and avionics. It is a very fair statement that full understanding and insight of F-35 technology would give someone a very good idea of the capabilities (and therefore limitations) of the F-22. This fact make alot of US congressmen and USAF generals very uneasy, taking into consideration that the F-22, our premier air defense aircraft for the forseable future, is costing billions of dollars over many, many years. This is money, of course, to which the British have not contributed, yet they will reap the benefits of this expediture in the form of technology transferred to the F-35 at no cost to them.

3) Politics: In the 1990's, President Clinton tried to pass legislation that would make special exceptions for Great Britain and Australia regarding technology transfer of military systems. In essence, this exception would have allowed the US to transfer sensitive and classified military technology much more easily to GB and AUS, without going through many of the legal hassles and red tape the US laws and the State Dept. require. The Republican congress, seeing this as an attempt to curry the political favor of the British and Australians by Pres. Clinton, shot down the legislation. Fast forward to Pres. Bush - he tried to pass the same legislation. Guess what? A small group of republican bureaucrats keep holding up the same legislation, again and again (much to Pres. Bush's chagrin). These two legislators, Rep. Hyde and Rep. Hunter, are simply flexing their political muscle to leverage the administration for things they want passed. They also feel that that the UK and AUS shouldn't get special priviledges over other countries, as the Cold War is over. These two men are not making very many friends on Capitol Hill.

I am sure that when the time is right, the source code will be released to the British government. However, most of this problem can be attributed to internal US politics and the inherrent red tape associated with our government and the way it operates. It has nothing to due with British trustworthiness.