Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will assess the adequacy of work carried out by the contractors fitting suppressant foam to Hercules aircraft. [128356]
Mr. Ingram: We are satisfied that the contractor is applying quality assurance processes robustly and that the fitting of explosive suppressant foam to Hercules aircraft will be completed within the agreed timeframe.
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the value of the Hercules aircraft ZH876 and its contents that was written off and destroyed following the landing accident north of Basra. [128945]
Mr. Ingram: The current market value of a C-130J aircraft is in the region of £45 million.
This is an alternative answer to the one provided by Ingram.
Some Herc pilots believe that the RAF has purchased cheap foam, this is not the case, I understand that the foam quality is not a problem, it is the methods behind the fitting. Tank Tigers (TT) are stripping out all the old sealant then applying new. TT then request that the aircraft is flown to flex the wing and cure any subsequent leaks. I have been told that Marshall Aerospace won't allow this and go in and install the foam. After test flight to cure the leaks the foam has to be removed.
Storage of new foam is not a problem. Foam that has been in fuel is. It is this storage and removal / refit process that is causing the FOD problem.