UK Considers 'renting' a tanker fleet

GZR_Sactargets · Post by **GZR_Sactargets** » 26 Mar 2008, 19:49

From "The Early Bird" 26 Mar 08

The US has civilianized many operations. From this article it may be that the UK is considering a private tanker operation.

RAF In Private Deal For Mid-Air Tankers

By David Robertson, Business correspondent

The Ministry of Defence will announce the largest private finance initiative (PFI) so far tomorrow with a £13 billion deal to buy a new fleet of air-refuelling tankers.

The deal is the first big defence project to be paid for using the controversial PFI scheme, which allows the Government effectively to rent infrastructure such as hospitals from private companies.

The MoD is expected to confirm tomorrow that the AirTanker consortium will supply all 14 refuelling aircraft for the RAF and will maintain the planes throughout their 20-year lives.

The deal has been delayed for months because of turbulence in the financial markets, which has made raising the capital needed to start the project difficult. The consortium, which includes EADS, Rolls-Royce, Cobham, VT Group and Thales UK, needed £2.5 billion to buy the A330 aircraft and modify them into refuelling tankers.

The decision to buy the RAF's refuelling tankers using PFI has not been popular among many senior military figures. They are concerned that relying on a private company to own, maintain and deploy vital military equipment is a strategic mistake.

However, executives within the defence industry believe that the RAF may get a better deal out of PFI as the contract will stipulate a certain level of readiness.

This will encourage the AirTanker consortium to maintain the aircraft at a higher standard than the military can manage at present.

Recent audit assessments of similar deals have found that outsourcing maintenance to private companies produces a better outcome for the Armed Forces.

Defence sources also said that the imminent spending squeeze on the Armed Forces means that PFI is the only way to ensure that the new tankers are bought. Rather than pay many billions of pounds upfront to buy the aircraft outright, PFI allows the MoD to pay yearly for access to them instead.

The RAF's tanker fleet is in desperate need of replacement, as many of the VC10s in service have been flying for decades. Military sources said that the fleet's reliability is so poor the RAF can no longer guarantee to be able to refuel when needed — an obvious danger with fighters regularly in Afghanistan.

The AirTanker consortium is made up of EADS, which owns Airbus and will supply the aircraft, as the largest shareholder with 40 per cent. Rolls-Royce, the engine maker, owns 20 per cent and VT, formerly Vosper Thornycroft, will manage the tankers' base at Brize Norton and owns 13 per cent. Cobham and Thales UK will each own 13 per cent and supply the refuelling droges and avionics respectively.

Tomorrow's deal with the MoD will be another significant win for EADS over Boeing. EADS's A330 tanker model was selected by the Department of Defence in the United States this month in a $40 billion (£20 billion) deal to replace the US Air Force's elderly tankers.

Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners, said: “Doing this as a PFI is wrong, but the RAF has to have these aircraft as quickly as possible. There is no other programme more important to the military at this moment. The fact that it took the consortium so long to raise the initial money shows just how difficult lending conditions are out there.”

AirTanker was unavailable for comment, but the company has said previously that this deal would secure 3,000 jobs in Britain and a further 4,500 indirectly.

nickblack423 · Post by **nickblack423** » 26 Mar 2008, 20:44

Absolutely ridiculous, Im glad Im jumping off this ship before it sinks like the Titanic.

They had been talking about this for ages, the original plan was something like having the tankers in RAF service but chartering them out to raise revenue. Can you imagine flying to Ibiza on your holidays on "RAF AIR"? Ridiculous, this government has absolutely no clue of what to do. The RAFs current tanker fleet should have been replaced 20 years ago at least. They have been flying them for the last few years on a shoe-string and quite often in and out of Akrotiri with families on board. Will it really take one of these old rust buckets to plough into the mediteranean sea full of serviceman and their families before they actually see sense and give out the money that is so badly needed. But no as usual with the MOD they do things on a very very small budget and then still expect us to be one of the best, most worked militaries in the world. I remember the days when US NAVY Hornet crews would make sure there was a VC-10 in the area before going on a mission because they valued the service they recieved so much.

A farce....a crisis....and something that is gonna get a whole lot worse before it plunges into the abyss and the military can no longer function properly...Everyone currently serving in the British Forces here me now....

GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN.

If it was a lame dog you'd take it out to the field and shoot it to put it out of its misery.

My 2 pence worth!!!!

Nick

ronniegj · Post by **ronniegj** » 27 Mar 2008, 04:00

What about OPSEC? Am I the only one who see's serious issues in regard to this one area?

I know, Official Secrets Act and all that. BS! These will be operated by civilians, whom may be vetted, and all that, but their motivation is MONEY first, last and almost always!

Am I paranoid?

Ron

paul64 · Post by **paul64** » 27 Mar 2008, 07:38

They will probably be crewed by ex-forces personnel, there's plenty of us about you know

nickblack423 · Post by **nickblack423** » 27 Mar 2008, 08:14

Like we've said though...you cant expect civilians to fly over war zones.

Nick

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 27 Mar 2008, 08:41

So crew them with RAuxAF personnel, about time they actually had some aircraft solves the secrets and war zones thing.

Ahhh, 601 sqn is reborn.

nickblack423 · Post by **nickblack423** » 27 Mar 2008, 08:43

Thing is dont forget they are not just Tankers. They are used almost 24/7 supporting tanking trails, scheduled trooping flights and spec Operational/Exercise Trooping flights. Weekend warriors would have to be full time to fly them.

Nick

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 27 Mar 2008, 10:52

True, Nick, but most of the pilots would come from UK airlines that would be called up in times of crisis as the Civilian Reserve.
These pilots can fit it around there airline schedule, as they bid for the flights they want. Making it more formalized as part of the RAuxAF shouldn't be a problem, you would just have a larger number of crew than a regular sqn.

... but yeah I know I am going into the realms of hypothetical

.

VulcanDriver · Post by **VulcanDriver** » 27 Mar 2008, 17:48

In the days of the Thatcher Govt it was suggested that the British Army sold their armour to a private company and only rented it when needed! I imagined British tanks with Hertz rental stickers on them. Crazy!!

Anything to save money, now I hear that its suggested we cancel the upgraded Nimrod. Replace it with what has not been mentioned but as we are an island I would have thought maritime security was a priority... Or is that too logical for politicians.

Keith Jones · Post by **Keith Jones** » 27 Mar 2008, 22:26

Here's the latest on this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7316835.stm