ALAN DRON
Downselection to a preferred bidder for the UK's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme is now expected by sources close to the programme to "optimistically" be April 2003, but possibly as late as August next year.
Downselection was due to take place by the end of this year, but Junior Defence Minister Lewis Moonie said last month that he was now unable to give a date for the decision. He cited the slowness of contractual discussions with the two remaining contenders, AirTanker and the Tanker Transport Service Company (TTSC).
Delay
The government has also announced a one-year delay in the in-service date for the £13 billion ($19.5 billion), 27-year programme, to early 2008.
UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced last week that the government wants to see faster-reacting, more mobile armed forces, partly to tackle international terrorism. The shift focuses renewed attention on plans to acquire the new fleet of tankers.
Both TTSC (comprising BAE Systems, Boeing, Serco and Spectrum Capital, offering ex-British Airways Boeing 767s) and AirTanker (consisting of EADS, KBR Halliburton, Rolls-Royce, Thales and FR Aviation offering new Airbus A330s) would set up what would amount to a new airline with 20-25 aircraft if they won the contract. They would offer spare aircraft for third-party work when not required by the RAF.
Although Boeing 767s have been named as preferred solutions by Japan, Italy and the US Air Force for their future tanker requirements, AirTanker's marketing director Tim MacMahon believes the A330 has advantages over the Boeing aircraft.
While he accepts the up-front costs of buying new aircraft as opposed to second-hand will be greater, he believes that is less of an issue when spread over the length of the contract.
In addition, the A330 "is much more capable in terms of range/payload and so on", he claims, "but most significantly in this case it carries all its fuel in the wing and fuselage tanks, so it doesn't need any modifications to be a tanker, other than fitting the wing pods etc. It can carry a whole load of fuel and passengers above the floor, and freight below it.
"Another clear advantage is that the A330 shares a common wing with the A340, so hardpoints for the A340's outer engines are already there. So, from the point of view of fitting pods and pylons that the RAF demands it's relatively simple compared with opening up the wing of an aircraft only designed for two engines."
He argues that the US, Italian and Japanese requirements, for single-point tankers, are very different from the UK's needs for a two/three-point aircraft.
Keith Archer-Jones, TTSC's bid director, notes the Boeing 767's recent track record of successes as a tanker, which he says makes the TTSC bid a low-risk option. He also believes that buying second-hand aircraft makes sense as the relatively low level of utilisation in military service makes buying new aircraft uneconomic. However, he emphasises that "it's not about aircraft acquisition, it's about service provision" and consortium member Serco already has extensive experience of handling PFI contracts, he notes.
Both consortia would set up their operating base at Brize Norton, the RAF's main transport base, with a tasking and operations cell giving the MoD full visibility of the status of all aircraft at any time.
Recalled
Those aircraft out on civilian service could be recalled extremely quickly if the RAF required surge capability in times of international crises.
In addition, says Archer-Jones, other potential third-party work may come from several nations that are looking to acquire an air-to-air refuelling capability but cannot afford a full-time fleet of aircraft, although such a contract would probably be a government-to-government arrangement.
Source: Flight Daily News