Draken acquires Cobham Aviation Services

[DuckDodgers]

Originally Posted by Foghorn Leghorn

Yes. The contract is called MSASS and is entirely separate to the previous O2O contract. It’s my understanding that new fighters couldn’t be used as part of this new contract?

Thanks FL, managed to find this from FOI data, it looks like MSASS was a done deal given the abject failure of ASDOT. I wouldn't be surprised if they try and swap out capability and/or experiment especially as Hawk hours are being reduced and 736 are scheduled to disappear late next year. As always, I guess the devil is in the detail of the contract requirements and what is commercially acceptable.

"The names of the companies who attended the Information Exchange Day held at HQ Air Command on 25-26 September 2019 are: Mass Consultants Limited; DEA Specialised Airborne Operations; Babcock International; Cobham Aviation Services; Thales UK; 3SDL; Inzpire Limited; QinetiQ; 2Excel Aviation Ltd; Collins Aerospace; BAE Systems – Air; Lockheed Martin UK; Leonardo MW Ltd; Hawker Hunter Aviation Ltd, Raytheon UK and Elbit Systems UK.

The answers to questions numbered 1-4 are as follows:

The total value of the MASS contract is £198,688,602
The total volume of flying hours is up to 6500hrs per annum
The contract duration is five years with no option years
The award for the Single Source Qualifying Defence Contract was provided to cover a gap in a critical service requirement until commencement of the Next Generation Operational Training programme in 2025."

[Bonkey]

Whatever happened to all the undertakings, assurances and commitments Advent gave to Cobham and HMG when they were in the process of negotiating to buy Cobham only a few months ago? As in not to break the group up, not to sell divisions off for short term gain etc etc. With Cobham Aviation now gone, apparently a sale of Cobham Antennas is on the cards with bids being sought for a $1Bn sale.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...y_cxU2k7_-QNak

[DuckDodgers]

Aviation Services was always vulnerable when you look at revenues and operating profit. H1 figures for 2019 were £160MM and £1.2MM respectively, of that 69% was from Aviation Services (Australia). The previous full year figures were £315.1MM and £12MM respectively, again of that some 65% was from Australia. When looked at across the entire Cobham Group, Aviation Services made up only 6% of operating profit.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Originally Posted by DuckDodgers

Aviation Services was always vulnerable when you look at revenues and operating profit. H1 figures for 2019 were £160MM and £1.2MM respectively, of that 69% was from Aviation Services (Australia). The previous full year figures were £315.1MM and £12MM respectively, again of that some 65% was from Australia. When looked at across the entire Cobham Group, Aviation Services made up only 6% of operating profit.

CAvS have always done well in terms of the bottom line and they have a contract for the next 4 years which, given the current fiscal Armageddon, is quite an attractive aspect.

My limited understanding of this SS QDC is that that capability cannot be swapped in or out. So, just because Draken have bought CAvS it does not mean they can now bring onboard fast air as this would go beyond the current contract which other companies would probably take umbrage with.

As mentioned before, it’ll be really interesting to see where Draken take this. Perhaps they can bring fast jet aggressor platforms to the UK.

[DuckDodgers]

Originally Posted by Foghorn Leghorn

CAvS have always done well in terms of the bottom line and they have a contract for the next 4 years which, given the current fiscal Armageddon, is quite an attractive aspect.

My limited understanding of this SS QDC is that that capability cannot be swapped in or out. So, just because Draken have bought CAvS it does not mean they can now bring onboard fast air as this would go beyond the current contract which other companies would probably take umbrage with.

As mentioned before, it’ll be really interesting to see where Draken take this. Perhaps they can bring fast jet aggressor platforms to the UK.

That is why, I guess, it depends exactly what the verbiage states in the contract. For instance, if it doesn’t specifically mandate a Falcon 20 and says the air vehicle must be able to achieve 300-350KTAS with 90mins ToT at 100nm from the field with representative role equipment (which for the RAF would be I/J band jammer, TS pod and ACMI pod) then I’d opine that from a commercial perspective you could certainly look to replace a number of aircraft especially if it doesn’t alter the contract value or perhaps at a cheaper cost per flight hour. Not as easy with the RN due to needing to run at least two pods simultaneously either in D Band and E/F Band with high ERP.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Originally Posted by DuckDodgers

That is why, I guess, it depends exactly what the verbiage states in the contract. For instance, if it doesn’t specifically mandate a Falcon 20 and says the air vehicle must be able to achieve 300-350KTAS with 90mins ToT at 100nm from the field with representative role equipment (which for the RAF would be I/J band jammer, TS pod and ACMI pod) then I’d opine that from a commercial perspective you could certainly look to replace a number of aircraft especially if it doesn’t alter the contract value or perhaps at a cheaper cost per flight hour. Not as easy with the RN due to needing to run at least two pods simultaneously either in D Band and E/F Band with high ERP.

Me thinks you’re being a little bit naughty, DuckDodgers and you know more than you’re letting on!

Yea CAvS would be able to bring in another platform that satisfies the MSASS requirements, which would be another Biz Jet. However, why would you do that when the Falcon 20s still deliver all KURs in the contract and are low cost. As mentioned, there’s no ability for Draken to fly a fast jet under the contract as it doesn’t support that flying.