Tornado Support Contract For Bae
News release issued today:
RAF Wyton, United Kingdom. - BAE Systems has been awarded a £947 million contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) that will boost the Tornado aircraft's availability for frontline operations, while considerably reducing the cost to the taxpayer.
The contract, known as ATTAC (Availability Transformation: Tornado Aircraft Contract) will provide guaranteed availability of Tornado aircraft for the RAF, is potentially worth in the region of £1.5 billion and will save the MoD £510 million over the initial 10 years of the programme.
Under the ATTAC service, BAE Systems will work in a partnered approach with the UK MoD's Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) and the RAF, reflecting principles such as Through Life Capability Management and contracting for availability as set out in the UK Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS).
BAE Systems group managing director Ian King stated: "ATTAC is a pivotal example of the Defence Industrial Strategy in action. It is a major programme in its own right and the benefits will extend far beyond Tornado. We are already transferring the learning gained through the development of ATTAC to provide a support blueprint for new aircraft entering RAF service, such as Typhoon, Nimrod MRA4 and the F-35 Lightning II, and also for other large, complex through-life programmes in the UK and overseas."
Minister for Armed Forces, Adam Ingram, said: "This contract will transform the way we support the Tornado fleet, significantly improve the availability of aircraft to the front-line and deliver savings of around £510million to the UK taxpayer. The operational record of the RAF Tornado aircraft is second-to-none and this innovative contract will ensure that this success continues for many years to come."
BAE Systems has worked with the DLO and RAF on a series of pilot programmes to build confidence that ATTAC will deliver and they have already demonstrated the considerable benefits of working together. For example combined maintenance and upgrade has reduced traditional maintenance manhours by 50 per cent and support to the secondary power system (one of the ATTAC pilot programmes) has been undertaken at 23 per cent less than the historical costs.
Under ATTAC, BAE Systems takes responsibility for "depth" support at RAF Marham (the RAF will continue to carry out day-to-day flightline maintenance) and will combine this with the Capability Development and Sustainment Service (CDSS), which is a structured and cost-effective approach to inserting new capability into the aircraft, to maintain the aircraft's warfighting effectiveness throughout its service life. Overall the company will be responsible for ensuring the required aircraft at an agreed capability are provided to the front line when they are needed.
The pilot programmes will now be subsumed into the overall contract which will have an initial service delivery by mid 2007 and be fully in place by the end of that year. A phase 2 final element will deliver a series of 'supplemental' contracts covering remaining avionics and general systems requirements plus engineering support services by the end of December 2007.