Teaming agreements have cut the number of responses to a UK Ministry of Defence request for outline proposals for the Royal Air Force Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) requirement.
Potentially worth £9 billion, the FSTA deal will last for 20 years and be funded using a Private Finance Initiative.
In September, the MoD asked British Aerospace, Brown &Root, Cobham's FR Aviation (FRA) teamed with Thomson-CSF, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, and Serco, teamed with Spectrum Capital, to respond.
Since then, Brown &Root has combined with FRA, Rolls-Royce and Thomson-CSF to form the Eurotanker consortium. It declines to reveal details of its bid, including the airframe it is proposing. Rolls-Royce has also submitted a standalone bid.
BAe and Raytheon have teamed up to bid an Airbus solution. It is likely that a selection of fleet options will be offered based on the A310, A330 or a mix (Flight International, 29 September-5 October). BAe is a partner in Airbus and Raytheon has an agreement with the four-nation consortium to offer its aircraft as airborne early warning platforms and tankers. Serco will not discuss its bid. The MoD planned to shortlist competitors in the first half of next year but now says it hopes to keep all four bids in the competition. The first tanker is due to enter service in 2004, replacing elderly BAC VC10s.
Source: Flight International
