Howard Gethin/LONDON
Serious delays to the £2.4 billion ($3.9 billion) programme to update 21 British Aerospace Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft to MRA4 standard for the Royal Air Force have pushed back the aircraft's in-service date until at least 2005.
Compensation payments are being negotiated by the Ministry of Defence and BAe, which won the fixed-price prime contractor deal in 1996.
The latest announcement of delays came in a 17 March parliamentary statement by John Spellar, undersecretary of state for defence.
"When the contract was placed in December 1996, British Aerospace undertook to meet an in-service date of April 2003," he said. "Resource and technical difficulties with the early phases of the programme at BAe mean that the company does not expect the aircraft to enter service before 2005. The precise slippage is still the subject of negotiations between the Ministry of Defence and BAe."
BAe has agreed to pay undisclosed liquidated damages, with additional payments if the programme is further delayed.
A National Audit Office report warned last year that "retaining the current Nimrod fleet beyond 2005 would require significant cost of ownership increases".
The Nimrod modification programme includes major structural work to extend airframe life, including a new wing and pressure floor, installation of a new $639 million Boeing-developed tactical information system and BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofans (Flight International, 20-26 January).
The first three Nimrod MR4s, which had been in long-term storage, have been stripped down by BAe's airframe subcontractor, FR Aviation. The Nimrod programme has a rolling schedule, with aircraft gradually being removed from the RAF's Nimrod MR2 fleet.
"The delay on deliveries-is due to the need to introduce new skills, management techniques and resources to the programme and to quickly resolve any technical difficulties we faced."
The delay will be a blow to the RAF's efforts to maintain effective maritime patrol missions.
Last year's NAO report said the RAF originally wanted an in-service date of 2000 because of equipment obsolescence, but industry responses to the request for information indicated that September 2002 was the earliest it could have the first seven production aircraft delivered.
Source: Flight International
