Energy Policy and the Joint Strike Fighter

I was at a recent government technology conference where I saw a documentary by NOVA of the competition between the US military technology giants, Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The goal is to save billions by combining the aviation needs of the Air Force, Marines and Navy into one plane. The JSF has to:



• Meet Air Force criteria for a inexpensive multi-role fighter with stealth capability.
• Meet Navy criteria for demanding sea aviation.
• Meet Marine requirements to go anywhere with STOVL (Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing).

At stake is $200 Billion contract with the US military and various US allies including UK, Italy, Netherlands, etc. The total production run for the JSF may approach $1 Trillion if the aircraft is successful.

With so much at stake each company is going all out to win this competition. The documentary captures the competition as each firm completes the various stages leading to the flight of their prototypes. Both companies do a great job and succeed in building planes that exceed the strict requirements.

Energy Policy

So what has this to do with Energy policy? I was thinking about how much the US is spending on imported oil. The US imports about 5 Billion barrels of oil per annum at a cost of about $300 Billion. The largest use of petroleum is in transportation which accounts for about 60% of the oil used. This means that any plan to address imports of fuel must tackle fuel efficiency within the transportation sector.

The monetary drain from such large levels of imports is significant, but this pales in comparision to the national security implications of importing oil from the most volatile and unstable parts of the world.

Our thirst for oil leads us into relationships which are against our own long term interest by becoming allies to oppressive 3rd world regimes and having large troops deployments to secure oil routes. By signficantly cutting our oil consumption, we can turn oil into a cheap commodity that does not require troops or alliances with brutal regimes. Moreover, cutting oil consumption would also take money away from many current unfriendly and unstable regimes like Iran or Venezuela or potential future unfriendly regimes that may emerge.



The $100 Billion Car Competition



The US’ current energy policy is more about doling money out to different energy constituents than actually addressing the greater need of driving the US towards greater energy efficiency. Why can't the US create the same environment of innovation and advancement in transportation vehicles as it does with military aircraft?

Similar to the JSF, how about a $100 Billion contract to the firm that could create a fuel efficient car? To do this, the US government would only need to invest 1/3 of its annual oil import bill for petroleum. $100 Billion would be competed for by the best 2 companies who had shown the capacity and potential to provide a family of vehicles which would best meet the needs of consumers and delivers incredible fuel efficiency. The company would have to provide a prototype vehicles and its plans for production and bringing the car to market. The $100 Billion would be used for the building of prototypes among competitors, zero interest loans for production equipment, potential fueling infrastructure and initial government vehicle orders.