Re: [DSII] Point defence...

In a message dated 99-01-09 17:53:45 EST, you write:

<< 
 I suppose now would be a good time to point out that Defense
 Contractors[1] rate just between Used Car Salesmen and Lawyers in
 overall honesty.  Sure, pay me $16 Billion, and I'll promise the Sun,
 Moon, and Stars too.  By the time you find out it doesn't work, I'll
 have cashed the check.  
  >>
I disagree with your statement about most Defense contractors. Your
reputation
at home and abroad is only as good as the last sale you made. Most
people in
the industry go overboard to the point of cutting into margin (profit)
to make
sure that a customer (particulary the technically less sophisticated
ones) can
(1) operate the equipment and (2) have some sort of logistics
infrastructure
in place with people trained or hired to support it. Let me give you an
example: Everyone up through 1990-91 wanted to sell to the United Arab
Emirates (UAE). Lots of cash, not much native talent for operations and
maintenance. They were very wary though of procuring systems that didn't
meet
specs. and were difficult to maintain. Most of the logistics work and
some
operational work (especialy air defense, C3I and aircraft) was done by
Jordainians and Pakistanis. The trick to selling to the UAE was selling
to
Jordan and Pakistan first. If you really did a good job and had
satisfied
customers in either of those countries, especially Jordan, you had
established
a very firm basis for selling to the UAE.  Screwing over customers by
over
promising on performance or making logistics support a nightmare (not
enough
spares recomended, not enough test equipment, poor training, etc.) will
kill
sales down the road. Another example:
in the the early and mid-1980's one major U.S. contractor did just that
in
Egypt and Korea. They walked away from both jobs and some very angry
customers
in the MoD's in both countries. Egypt and Korea both had a large number
of
people in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi's at the time, were spending billions
in
defense and general national infrastructure. One of the pet projects up
for
grabs at the time was PEACE SHIELD, a program which over a period of 10
years
was supposed to tie together and integrate all air defense,
communications,
air traffic control (civil and military) and establish training and
support
infrastuctures for just about every piece of electronic hardware the
Saudi's
were supposed to buy during that period. By the time the Koreans and the
Egyptians were finished bad mouthing this one particular player, guess
who
wasn't even given the chance to bid?  

Perry