University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, October 11, 19B9
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Professors attack FSX fighter deal with Japan
Commey Ebben/Special to the KANSAN Jan Rosakam testified about the effect of the FSX agreement.
U. S. has problem with competition, some critics say
By Travis Butler Kansan staff writer
The FSK fighter is a symbol of the problems the United States is having in high-technology competition, said Jan Roskam, Ackers distinguished professor of aerospace engineering.
"It's nothing against the Japanese, but I think they should have to develop their own technology."
Roskam testified about the competitive consequences of the FXS agreement in May hearings conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee. The agreement was to design a contractor General Dynamics to work with the Japanese to build an advanced version of the F-16, a hightech U.S. fighter plane.
Roskam said that the lack of congressional research and development financing was a factor in the problem. He said that if the government would finance research and development at a higher level, the
United States wouldn't have to worry about surrendering a lead in high-technology areas by sharing information with the Japanese.
"We're infusing the Japanese with American high technology," he said. "We're handing a lot of valuable information to them on a silver platter.
Also to blame is the short-term view taken by U.S. managers, Roskam said. In particular, he said that General Dynamics was entering the FSK deal expecting short-term
profits.
"American managers are short-term thinkers," he said. "They are taught to maximize their profits in the short term and to hell with what happens 10 years later."
"There are very few people who want to look at things in the long term. The system is incorrigible that
way because of the way managers are rewarded. They are praised for profits in the short term, and long-term thinking makes short-term profits go down."
Carl Locke, dean of engineering also thinks management is a problem.
"The Japanese consider the long term as the judge for people and firms, while the United States almost judges quarter by quarter," he said. "Where Japan does well is in quality manufacture and in management systems."
Locke said that the United States still had more new ideas than Japan but that the Japanese were better at manufacturing and turning ideas into products, which came from their different managerial strategies.
"I don't think it will have much long-term effect," Roskam said. "Some of the committee members agreed with me, but they were in the minority. So, it didn't help."
He was pessimistic about the influence of his testimony.
Roskam said, "I would hope that the reason we have politicians in Congress is to try and think in the long term. Mine was not a popular point of view in Congress."
Locke said that improvement in high-tech competitiveness would take a series of steps in both education and management and that the business climate needed to be changed in the long term versus short-term view of management.
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