BAE have so much riding on UK long term defense projects they are beholden to the Government and therefore can be put under pressure to produce better deals/results. They are joined at the hip, the recent Cameron visit to India and the Hawk deal is evidence of that.
The UK carrier programme for one has been modelled infinitum to ensure the finished article is on time and on budget. The Astute programme suffered from a number of issues in the design/build stage, not all BAE's fault. Critically design changes were made following the end of the cold war (increased sail design and internal changes) coupled with changes in constriction methodology (horizontal to vertical) all contributed to the delay. The Astute trials programme has gone off without a hitch and it will be handed over to the RN next month as planned now the deep dive, speed trials are over.
I don't have an issue with a single yard, BAE are the only company in the UK with the critical mass to produce Nuclear submarines, fast jets, UCAV's and high-tech warships. They have R&D expertise in land, air and sea systems, which can cross pollinate ideas. Very few countries outside of the US can match their range of capabilities. We all love to knock BAE, but they didn't become the largest defence contractor in 2009 based on stupidity. Their expertise is spreading far and wide exemplified by the following example:
BAE Systems, Inc., a leading U.S. non-nuclear ship repair, modernization, and conversion company, will modernize 11 Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class guided missile destroyers under a contract with the U.S. Navy with a potential value of $365 million. This work, along with the recent acquisition of Atlantic Marine, reflects BAE Systems' efforts to support new-era requirements of customers for the readiness and sustainment of equipment and systems.
I'm hoping the RN sees sense and fits a low risk version of EMCAT to the first QE class, it can then be used to launch Watchkeeper / Predator without compromising F35B operations.
I don't at all have a problem with BAe, I welcome large european defense companies as a necessity for european independence.
Though I think that people are making some mistakes in attaching nationality to a multinational company. In my book, the parts of BAe operating in Britain is a part of british industry, subject to british law. The Parts of BAe operating in sweden is swedish industry subject to swedish law. etc. That "BAe" is, or is not, good at doing transactions within the different parts of the (international) company is the interest of the owners of BAe and doesn't really concern us.
Just like the operations of Coca Cola in Norway is of little interest to the average american.
Anyway, the singleton relationship between one customer and one surplier is bad. And this is, or should be, the concern of the British goverment and people since this is a question of a strategically important british industry (yards in this case).
Based on huge emperical evidence, we know that, that kind of singleton relationships ALLWAYS ends up in inefficient compaines and bad value for money for the customer (Look at the USSR! there is a reason why they aren't around anylonger).
In theory, it is prudent to dissolve that kind of singleton relationships by the customer buying up the surplier. Because that decreases the amount of economical transactions (which has a cost). That is also true if the customer is a goverment.
In the not so distant future, if you don't wanna buy your next frigates in Asia, but still want to have the most value for money as possible (given such political constraints) You have two options:
A) Nationalize yard industry.
B) Create a market for british yards to operate on, which is healthy.
Add B. The most likely candidate for that market is, imho, the European defense market. So Britain should work for a defense market in which f.ex. a british yard can bid on an Italien contract in fair and equal competition and a german yard can bid on a british contract in fair and equal competition.
And ofcourse there can be no goverment subsidies in such a market (disrespecting the subsidy that consist in european goverments buying on a european market, which probably is more expensive than the world market (read Asia)).
Now people will probably think; "Ohh no, in that arrangement we will loose british yard industry all together because the dutch will out-compete "our" yards and "steal" british contracts (that could have been shuffled down the throat of the rich guys that own BAe)".
I admit that, that is a very likely risc. Though the british goverment could embark on an offensive, but sound, industrial policy aimed at surporting British yard industry.
As an example, consider this; The Lindø yard of Odense, Denmark is (though now it has given up and is closing), to my knowledge, the last privately owned european yard that competed openly on the market for large containerships and didn't recive goverment subsidies.
That is a yard in a country that frankly got no heavy industry, no relevant natural ressources, some of the world's highest wages and highest tax etc. A lot of really bad conditions for heavy industry.
But the goverment had an offensive industrial policy concerning danish yard industry. That's f.ex. why the local public university in Odense is really good at industrial automatisation, the technical university of Denmark got a large and very good institute of ship-technology etc. Publically funded ressearch that, amoung other things, provided the danish yard industry with a world leading expertize in industrial shipbuilding.
Britain could do things like that, though it requires a large healthy market, for the yards to do buisness on. And there is always the risc that "other people" cheat. F.ex. Lindø, the grown juvel of danish shipbuilding, died because (and I do consider this as a fact, though I might be biased) it was in direct competition with the South Korean State, that brands itself "Hyundai" when it builds ships (Same fate befell Krockums of sweden).
Though on the european market "we" have shown that we can combat "cheaters" (and we could also combat the spanish and italien yards that for the moment are cheating (though not as much as the Koreans).
hwell