Military

New Hawk Support Contract For BAE Systems

27 Feb 2007 | Ref. 062/2007

Warton, United Kingdom. - A new £74 million support contract awarded to BAE Systems will boost maintenance and technical support for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy's fleet of 131 Hawk TMK1 aircraft and will help save the UK taxpayer over £14 million pounds. The Hawk Integrated Operational Support (Hawk IOS) contract, signed today with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), will ensure agreed levels of sorties can be carried out by the UK's key training aircraft through to 2011, while saving costs.

The solution breaks new ground for BAE Systems in its relationship with the RAF and Royal Navy, in that Forward (i.e. Flight Line) operations are being directly supported by BAE Systems personnel and its principal contractor Babcock Defence Services.

Three Hawk operating bases, RAF Valley, RAF Leeming and RNAS (Royal Naval Air Station) Culdrose, will be supported directly by BAE Systems and Babcock Defence Services, who are the current provider of Hawk maintenance. Support services at these stations (RNAS Culdrose from April 2008) will provide fleet and supply chain management, forward and depth maintenance, and technical support. In addition, a spares availability service will be provided to RAF Scampton, home of the RAF Aerobatics Team, the Red Arrows, and to MoD Boscombe Down.

Phil Davidson, Training Solutions - Support Director, BAE Systems, said: “The Hawk Integrated Operational Support contract is an excellent example of BAE Systems working closely with the RAF, the Royal Navy and the UK MoD, bringing guaranteed levels of availability for the aircraft and giving real capability to our customer. The Hawk IOS service, which will be delivered in partnership with the Defence Logistics Organisation and Babcock Defence Services, will ensure the availability of Hawk aircraft with the capability to meet the wide range of training requirements, whilst also reducing costs for the MoD.

“The Hawk IOS contract is the latest in a series of integrated support contracts that have been developed by BAE Systems over the last five years in partnership with the DLO. These contracts cover many of the UK's frontline aircraft including Tornado, Harrier, Nimrod MR2 and VC10 and fully reflect the principles outlined in the UK Government's Defence Industrial Strategy.

“Successful delivery of this service could see wider application for future Hawk support, both in the UK and also for our export customers.”

Wing Commander David Tudor, Head of Hawk Support Authority, DLO, said: "The award of the Hawk IOS contract is a significant step on the partnering path with BAE Systems. Not only will Hawk IOS reduce the MOD’s costs for supporting the Hawk aircraft, but also it allows us to integrate various engineering and spares contracts into one prime contract. This will ease contract management and offer future benefits through the economy of scale. We look forward to continuing our excellent partnering relationship with BAE Systems and realising the potential for strong, mutual benefit throughout the contract."

About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is a premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 88,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded 12 billion pounds (US22 billion dollars) in 2005, excluding the Group's former interest in Airbus.

For further information please contact:
Paul Earnshaw, BAE Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 1772 855572 or +44 (0) 1482 663291
[email protected]

Lisa Hillary-Tee, BAE Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384934 Mob: +44 (0)7801 718994
[email protected]

Issued by:
BAE Systems, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6YU, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384710 Fax: +44 (0) 1252 383947
www.baesystems.com