UK tanker overpriced!
Posted: 12 May 2012, 10:29
Defence chiefs have been attacked by spending watchdogs for entering into an "inappropriate" 27-year, £10.5 billion PFI contract in 2008 without properly understanding the costs.
Under the agreement, 14 converted Airbus A330s - called Voyager by the RAF - are being leased to the military by the AirTanker consortium for refuelling, transport and medical flights.
The provision of training, maintenance and new purpose-built buildings at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the RAF's air transport hub, is included in the deal.
Contract negotiations were based on a cost for each aircraft of £150 million.
But BBC Newsnight said it had seen evidence - including another buyer's contract - that the real price should be as little as £50 million.
It also based that figure on expert suggestions of both the likely discount available to someone buying 14 of the aircraft and an estimated £10 million conversion cost.
Worst still the first Voyager has not been cleared for RAF service and is hangared at Brize for "remedial" work on fuel leaks and software problems.
Under the agreement, 14 converted Airbus A330s - called Voyager by the RAF - are being leased to the military by the AirTanker consortium for refuelling, transport and medical flights.
The provision of training, maintenance and new purpose-built buildings at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the RAF's air transport hub, is included in the deal.
Contract negotiations were based on a cost for each aircraft of £150 million.
But BBC Newsnight said it had seen evidence - including another buyer's contract - that the real price should be as little as £50 million.
It also based that figure on expert suggestions of both the likely discount available to someone buying 14 of the aircraft and an estimated £10 million conversion cost.
Worst still the first Voyager has not been cleared for RAF service and is hangared at Brize for "remedial" work on fuel leaks and software problems.