Advertisement

Britain’s A330 Voyager FSTA: An Aerial Tanker Program - With a Difference

Related Stories: BAE, Bases & Infrastructure, Boeing, Britain/U.K., Contracts - Intent, EADS, FOCUS Articles, Helicopters & Rotary, Issues - Political, Legal, Other Corporation, Partnerships & Consortia, People, Power Projection, Pre-RFP, Procurement Innovations, Public Partnering, RFPs, Rolls Royce, Specialty Aircraft, Support & Maintenance, Support Functions - Other, Thales, Transformation
A330 MRTT UK FSTA concept
FSTA Concept
(click to view full)
DII

Typhoon shortage delaying Voyager. (Dec 5/11)

Back in 2005, Great Britain was considering a public-private partnership to buy, equip, and operate the RAF’s future aerial tanker fleet, with a preferred consortium emerging at the time. The RAF would fly the 14 Airbus A330-MRTT aircraft on operational missions and receive absolute preferential access to the planes, while the contractor handled maintenance, received payment from the RAF on a per-use basis, and operated them as passenger or transport aircraft when the RAF didn’t need them.

The deal became politically controversial, and negotiations on the multi-billion pound, 27-year deal, charted new territory for both the government and private industry. Which may help to explain why a contract to move ahead on a “Private Financing Initiative” basis had yet to be issued, and procurement had yet to begin, over 7 years after the program began. In March 2008, however, Britain issued the world’s largest-ever Defence Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. This FOCUS Article describes the current British fleet, the aircraft they chose, how the new fleet will compare, the innovative deal structure they’ve chosen, and the project’s key events…

Displaying 221 of 6,525 words (about 17 pages)


Subscribe to DID's Defense Industry Insider

One Source: Hundreds of programs; Thousands of links, photos, and analyses

DII brings a complete collection of articles with original reporting and research, and expert analyses of events to your desktop - no need for multiple modules, or complex subscriptions. All supporting documents, links, & appendices accompany each article.

Benefits

  • Save time
  • Eliminate your blind spots
  • Get the big picture, quickly
  • Keep up with the important facts
  • Stay on top of your projects or your competitors

Features

  • Coverage of procurement and doctrine issues
  • Timeline of past and future program events
  • Comprehensive links to other useful resources
Subscribe Now