Last-minute intervention by the UK Treasury has frustrated the announcement of winners of the Royal Air Force's Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), Future Transport Aircraft (FTA) and Short Term Tactical Airlifter (STSA) competitions.
Industry sources say that in particular the Treasury has questioned the cost of the preferred solution for the BVRAAM, believed to be the Matra BAe Dynamics Meteor missile, rather than the cheaper developments of Raytheon's AIM-120 AMRAAM. The Boeing C-17 Globemaster for the STSA, with a commitment to the Airbus Military Company A400M as the FTA solution (Flight International, 7-13 March), is also being looked at.
At one stage it was envisaged that all three contracts could be bundled into one announcement, although the renewed Treasury interest could now see the missile deal split from the aircraft. Pressure has been exerted to select an FTA ahead of a meeting of the seven nation steering committee due to take place in the UK at the end of this week.
The new Meteor is more expensive and riskier than the Raytheon's step-by-step development offer, while the C-17 is widely viewed as more costly than the Antonov An-124 offered by Air Foyle. The airline contends that it has striven to cut the risk of the An-124 bid and claims it costs about 40% of the STSA budget (Flight International, 22-28 February).
As well as the Treasury's budget concerns, the three competitions have become mired in the politics of a Europe versus US battle.
Source: Flight International