Thales UK says the £2 billion ($3.97 billion) capital-raising exercise to acquire the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) fleet remains on schedule and should lead to a contract deal for the much-delayed project by year-end.
The UK Ministry of Defence in June finally gave the green light to the £13 billion private finance initiative to equip the UK Royal Air Force with a new fleet of 14 Airbus A330-200-based tanker-transports from 2011 - two years later than originally planned.
The EADS-led AirTanker consortium, of which Thales UK is a member, received so-called Main Gate approval to formally launch the project, allowing it to seek initial funding from financial institutions to both acquire the FSTA fleet and establish new support and training infrastructure at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
Speaking at a London briefing, Alex Dorrian, Thales UK chief executive, said the financing competition on which Deutsche Bank was advising was "progressing well" and that contract signature was expected by the end of 2007.
"We are in the final phase and are continuing to incrementally develop the general FSTA capability that will support the soldiers in the field. It has to be done and dusted by the end of this year."
Commenting on the well-documented FSTA delays and costs involved, Victor Chavez, Thales UK vice-president sales and marketing, admitted that the recruiting of preferred suppliers had meant changes to the cost-expenditure status.
"We would always like it to be sooner and quicker, but it is very complex and it is in both parties' interests to bottom out the issues. The UK MoD is now very clear on what it wants and equally we are clear on what we can supply in terms of a value proposition."
AirTanker, which was confirmed as preferred bidder for the FSTA deal in January 2004, is formed of EADS, Cobham, Rolls-Royce, Thales UK and VT - which will together own the new fleet and manage maintenance activities, with the MoD buying services on a per-hour basis.
Source: Flight International
