Concern UK may back out of Eurofighter contract

July 15, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: BAE Systems, England, Military Aviation, Restructuring, development program

The UK government is currently planning on buying Eurofighters and F-35 JSF aircraft to modernize their fixed wing aviation force. There are rumors that the Eurofighter buy may be canceled as a cost savings. See an article here. Eurofighter is built by a multi-nation consortium in Europe with BAE being the most important UK participant. If the contract is canceled, with the Government paying termination fees, that means no major aircraft will be built by BAE. They build parts of the JSF but do not assemble the final aircraft. This would be the end of fighter production in England if it happens until a more advanced aircraft then the F-22 or F-35 comes along.

Tags: aviation, BAE, consortium, England, eurofighters, europe, f 35 jsf, participant, termination fees, uk government

UK moves out on CV contstruction

July 4, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: BAE Systems, Contract Awards, England, IT, development program, production program

The UK government, fresh off of awarding the construction contract for the two new aircraft carriers, has now awarded a second major one related to the effort. BAE has been awarded a contract to develop the IT backbone for the ships. See this article for more. This over $500 M contract will develop the system that integrates everything on the ship. Sure to be key as one of the goals of the new design must be to minimize crew size.

Tags: backbone, BAE, construction contract, crew size, new aircraft carriers, ships, uk government

Poorly written contract grounds UK CH-47

June 3, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, England, Military Aviation, production program

In 2001 the British military purchased 8 CH-47 Chinooks to support special operations. Unfortunately the contract did not buy access to the aircraft source code for the software. This meant that the UK military could not certify the aircraft for any but day operations. See a story here. This has meant that the aircraft have sat for seven years not being used. At one point the UK government planned to convert them to regular cargo CH-47 aircraft but used the money for other things in the end. Obviously a clause to allow access to the technical data would have driven up the price a bit, but it would have allowed the military to certify the aircraft for night and bad weather operations. As it is there has been little gained by buying these aircraft, at really no fault of Boeing.

Tags: bad weather, british military, CH-47, chinooks, money, seven years, source code, special operations, uk government, uk military, weather operations

Britain expected to buy KC-30 aircraft as well

March 23, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Contract Awards, EADS, England, Rolls-Royce, commercial aviation, logistics, production program

This short note at Forbes.com indicates that the UK government will buy KC-30 aircraft manufactured by EADS and with Rolls-Royce engines. This is a much smaller contract then the US Air Force one, but it builds on that success. I don’t know who else bid on this contract, but one would assume it had to be Boeing as there is nobody else. The contract will be worth $26 B dollars.

Tags: air force one, EADS, forbes, Rolls-Royce, uk government, us air force