GBP 315M Tornado Maintenance Contracts Pave Way for “Future Contracting for Availability”

Tornado GR4s(click to view full) The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded an innovative GBP 130 million contract ($230.5 million) to BAE Systems for Combined Maintenance and Upgrade work on the Royal Air Force’s Fleet of 139 Tornado GR4 strike aircraft (the UK also operates the Tornado F3 interceptor variant). Another GBP 185 million ($330 million) agreement has been signed with Rolls Royce for the Tornado fleet’s Turbounion RB199 turbofan engines. As discussed in DID’s focus piece on the UK’s CVF future aircraft carrier, The UK MoD’s “Future Contracting for Availability” orientation represents a long term trend toward all-encompassing lifecycle maintenance contracts that is slowly being rolled out across its equipment fleet. These contracts are another step in that direction. Details follow… Under the 10-year contract for the Tornado GR4 fleet, BAE Systems Customer Solutions & Support will be responsible to the Tornado Integrated Project Team for the delivery of Combined Maintenance and Upgrade work at RAF Marham. As Minister for Armed Forces Adam Ingram said: “This award is the second in a series of incremental packages leading to the eventual placement of a single support contract package for the Tornado fleet. The CMU contract not only ensures the Tornado […]