UK Defence

Production of BAE Systems Hawk and Typhoons will soon come to an end unless new orders are gained. © BAE Systems

UK Defence Aerospace Industry on Hold

By David Oliver

During the Queen’s Speech on 19 December 2019, the UK Government announced plans to conduct an Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review.

Heralded as the most radical reassessment of the UK’s place in the world since the end of the Cold War, the review promised to cover all aspects of international policy from defence to diplomacy and development.

In the first phase of this inquiry, the Defence Committee was exploring how Government should conduct this exercise and looking to identify lessons learned from the timing, methodology and structure of previous UK’s security and defence reviews. The Committee would then use the findings of this inquiry as a framework to collect evidence on the future of UK defence in Phase II of the inquiry.

However, the review has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the Integrated Review was due to be completed later this year but it is now not expected to start until 2021.

Another casualty of pandemic was the UK aerospace industries’ shopwindow, as the 2020 Farnborough International Airshow was cancelled leaving a gap that will take some considerable time to fill.

RAF Eurofighter Typhoons flying in Finland with a Finnish Air Force Hornet during HX programme trials. © BAE Systems

The UK defence sector was already facing slowdown even before the pandemic caused production shutdowns and delays which saw dramatic drops in the share value of major aerospace companies operating in the UK, including BAE Systems, Leonardo and Airbus.

BAE Systems Warton delivered the last of 160

Components of RAF Lockheed F-35B Lightning IIs are manufactured by BAE Systems at Samlesbury. © David Oliver Eurofighter Typhoons to the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) on 27 September 2019. The line at Warton has begun work on 22 aircraft for Qatar, with deliveries to begin in 2022 and although Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of intent (MOI) for 48 additional Typhoon aircraft in March 2019 no production or delivery details have been disclosed. If the price of oil remains low, Saudi Arabian fighter procurement may face additional delays.

In order to ensure future production at Warton, the company is targeting four high value fighter competitions for which the Eurofighter is being offered. Launched in 2014, Finland’s HX programme involves the overhaul of Finland’s air combat capability with new aircraft, weapons, and sensors to completely replace its current fleet of Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornets. Among the five contenders, BAE Systems is bidding for the €10 billion contract on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium. In January 2020, two RAF Typhoons were put through their paces in a series of evaluations in the cold conditions of Tampere. The aircraft were tested under harsh weather conditions to verify the performance claims made in the responses to the Request for Quotation documents submitted last year, along with performance values previously verified in laboratory tests. Finland’s HX programme remains on schedule with a procurement decision anticipated in 2021.

In May 2020 Switzerland gave bidders in its CHF8 billion (US$8.27 billion) Air2030 fighter and ground-based air defense tender additional time to deliver their proposals due to the coronavirus pandemic although the programme itself remains

Leonardo UK has an MoD contract to maintain AAC Apache AH-Mk1s until they are replaced by Boeing-built AH-64Es. © David Oliver

number of aircraft has yet been determined but the fleet of Tornados. However, no firm contract for eialongside its fleet of 24 Dassault Rafales is unclear. was temporarily closed on 24 March, but reopened in the first week of May. As part of the company’s Tempest Future Combat Air System (FCAS) scaleup, around 100 employees at the Brough site will be transferred from manufacturing roles into engineering positions but apart from that BAE Systems has no new orders for Hawk production at this facility.

Brazilian Navy Super Lynx, AAC AW159 Wildcat and Norwegian Air Force AW101s may be some of the last helicopters built at Yeovil. © Leonardo Other BAE Systems contracts on track. The country took the decision to extend aft fuselage, horizontal and vertical tails of the the deadline for responses from industry from Lockheed Martin F-35B which is operated by both August to November this year. An RAF Typhoon the US Marine Corps and the Royal Air Force at its undertook a month-long evaluation in Switzerland Samlesbury facility as well as AN/ASQ-239 Electric in April 2019 as part of the Airbus-led bid for the Warfare/Countermeasures (EW/CM) systems for Air2030 programme. Neither the type nor the the Lightning II. Federal Council is expected to make its choice at The UK’s second largest aerospace manufacturer the beginning of 2021. is Leonardo’s UK-based helicopter business in In April 2020 it was reported that the German demillion Apache AH.Mk1 Integrated Operational fence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer had Support (IOS) contract with Leonardo to maintain suggested that Germany purchase 93 new Eurothe Army Air Corps fleet until its out of service date fighters plus 30 Boeing FA-18E/F Super Hornets in March 2024 when they will be replaced by 50 and 15 EA-18G Prowlers to replace the Luftwaffe’s Boeing AH-64E Apaches. include the production of the Yeovil. In January 2019 the MoD announced a £293 ther aircraft has yet been issued. A total of 59 AH.1 Apaches were built at Yeovil by Westland, now Leonardo Helicopters, and Canada’s long-running effort to buy 88 new fightdelivered to the Army Air Corps by 2004. However, ers to replace its air force’s fleet of CF-18 Hornets their replacement will not be built in the UK. In faces another delay. In April the federal government July 2016 the UK MoD announced that Boeing announced that it was once again delaying accepwill deliver 50 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters tance of bids for the Can$19 billion contract for new to the British Army under a US$2.3 billion Foreign fighters. Originally supposed to be submitted in May Military Sale (FMS) contract. Boeing was also 2019 and then pushed back to June 2020, it is now awarded an additional US$19.2 million contract for not expected before the end this year. post-production support services and warehouse In a report issued in an Italian publication, Egypt fleet of 50 aircraft and three Longbow crew trainers. is negotiating the sale of 24 Eurofighters although Work on both contracts will be performed in the US why the country would want to operate the aircraft at Mesa, Arizona. management services for the UK AH-64E Apache In May 2019, the UK MoD announced the delivery BAE Systems factory at Brough, where the last of of the first Commando Merlin Mk.4 helicopters denine Qatar-bound Hawk were being completed, signed for Royal Marine operations on Royal Navy

carriers under a £388 million contract. The MoD also awarded Leonardo a £271 million AW159 Wildcat support and training contract. Leonardo is the prime contractor for the upgrading of 14 Royal Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorant SAR helicopters and the conversion of two additional former US Presidential VH-71 Kestrel helicopters. The upgrade, that will be carried out in Canada, will bring Canada’s CH-149s to the latest AW101-612 standard as used by the Royal Norwegian Air Force which includes the Osprey radar. Leonardo has delivered 10 of 16 Norwegian Air Force AW101 Mk612s on order along with the Italian Air Force’s HH-101A Caesar’s configured for Combat Search and Rescue operations (CSAR) and for support to the Special Forces.

Eight Brazilian Navy Super Lynx Mk21B helicopters are being upgraded at Yeovil, the first of which was delivered in January 2020 and the first of five Portuguese Navy Super Lynx Mk95s also being upgraded was due to be delivered in March. However, with only four Polish AW101 and six Norwegian AW101 in production and no additional orders in sight, AW101 and AW159 Wildcat production at Yeovil will soon be at a standstill. Support and upgrade contracts will not support the 3,000 employees at Yeovil.

Leonardo’s multi-role medium-lift AW149 helicopter was planned to be based in Yeovil for demonstrations to potential European customers. The 9-tonne helicopter is designed to meet a wide range of military missions including troop transport/ troop insertion carrying up to 16 fully-equipped troops, cargo re-supply/external lift, CASEVAC/MEDEVAC, search and rescue (SAR) and Special Forces (SF) operations. The AW149 has been certified by the Italian Directorate of Air Armaments (ARMAEREO) and Leonardo is pitching it for the Polish Army’s requirement for a multi-role helicopter with its subsidiary PZL-Świdnik, which is also the prime contractor for four AW101s ordered for the Polish Navy.

The only customer to date for the AW149, which first flew in November 2009, is the Royal Thai Army which has taken delivery of five helicopters, all of which were built in Italy. There has been another report in an Italian publication of an unconfirmed order from Egypt for 24 AW149s helicopters for land-based and shipborne troop transport and SAR missions. Leonardo is ready to offer the AW149 to the UK MoD as a replacement for the RAF’s Puma fleet which is is expected to be retired from service in 2025.

Leonardo UK is one of the BAE Systems-led Tempest team members along with MBDA and Rolls-Royce working together with the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office and the UK MoD, who share a joint vision to develop the technologies needed for the next generation of Combat Aircraft. Launched at Farnborough in 2018 with £2 billion of government funding to oversee the design and build of a new Future Combat Air System (FCAS) through to 2025, when a final decision would be taken on the programme’s future. In July 2019, the UK and Sweden signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing to examine the possibilities for joint development of FCAS over the next decade. Italy followed Sweden on 11 September 2019 with a commitment by the UK and Italian government to work together on future Combat Air capabilities including Tempest. At the time, it was hoped that other countries, such as Japan, would be attracted to the programme but in March 2020 it was reported that the Japanese Ministry of Defense had rejected proposals by foreign manufacturers to develop its next generation F-X fighter.

Leonardo’s AW149 multi-role medium helicopter being offered to Poland for its army requirement, was planned to be based at Yeovil. © David Oliver

During a recent lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, the CEO Airbus Defence and Space, Dirk Hoke, argued why now is not the time for Europe to under invest in its space and defence sectors and why continued UK participation in European space and defence programmes is in all of our interests. He suggested that given the pressures of Covid-19 and Brexit, when the IR 2021 resumes, it is likely to have a sharp focus on value for money, challenging industry to do more with less and to do it quicker, while increasingly pushing industry to take the lead and selffund much of the future development. Dirk also expects to see the overall industrial strategy reworked to support the recovery of UK industry and job creation in a post-Covid world which will be underpinned by investment in UK skills, capability and Intellectual Property. He said it is encouraging that the UK is maintaining its doctrine of Open Global procurement and Airbus D&S looks to work with Her Majesty Government to highlight the value creation and contribution to the prosperity agenda that company, with high levels of investment, R&D and large workforces, bring to the UK.

The trade organisation for companies in the UK aerospace, defence, and security sectors, the ADS Group, believes that by accelerating a number of planned Team Tempest has until December 2020 to complete their analysis of a programme critical to the future of Britain’s combat air capabilities. defence programmes, activities and © BAE Systems through placing orders and work with In January 2020, the Team Tempest members activity in the supply chain and stimulate activity in announced that the number of people working on adjacent sectors. ADS Chief Executive Paul Everitt the programme would increase from 1,000 to 2,500. said: “As the UK looks to support its recovery from The Team has until December 2020 to complete the Covid-19 pandemic, the defence industry can their analysis of a programme critical to the future play a major role in stimulating the economy and of Britain’s combat air capabilities. However, this saving vital manufacturing jobs, if the Government was before the coronavirus pandemic took hold acts to bring forward key defence projects. “The of country. Obviously for a post-COVID-19 and UK Government has an opportunity to use defence post-Brexit Britain, the financial and working procurement to kick start the recovery and support relationships necessary to achieve a broader global high value supply chains, impacted by the crisis in success will be challenging. civil aerospace.”

industry earlier, this will help maintain However, it is clear that post Covid-19 and Brexit will increase pressure on the UK defence budget that is already under pressure and cut will be inevitable. Consequently, the UK MoD could be expected to renegotiate a number of existing contracts to slow or reduce deliveries and new procurement and development programmes might be postponed, reduced in scope or even cancelled.

Airbus facility at Filton is responsible for the production of the wing assembly of the A400M Atlas. © David Oliver