Al-Bab Report
The Defence Equipment and Support arm of Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the contract will secure maintenance, upgrade, and repair support of the planned 22-strong fleet of Airbus-built aircraft through 2026.
The work will take place at the RAF’s air transport hub at Brize Norton where a £62 million hangar capable of housing three Atlas aircraft at one go is on schedule to be fully equipped in the next few months.
The RAF fleet currently stands at 14 A400Ms following the delivery of two aircraft at the end of last year.
The fleet is scheduled to reach 22 in 2019 and be the backbone of the RAF’s air transport capability alongside smaller numbers of Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft.
The deal was single-source, but a spokesman for DE&S said the long-term intention is to look at the possibility of running a competition when what is known as the Medium Term Contract (MTC) comes up for expiry.
“A competitive process would have been impractical at this time as the aircraft is still in development and the fleet size is building. The intention is to consider competing for the support service when the aircraft design and fleet is mature. The MTC is subject to single source pricing regulations, which ensures transparency in pricing and that value for money for the taxpayer is balanced with providing the industry with a fair return,” said the spokesman.
“The contract is for Airbus to provide the number of aircraft required for tasking, with the requirement based on the fleet size, and incentivizes sortie achievement,” he said.
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