UK orders three more F-35 maintenance staging units

The Ministry of Defence intends to award a £370,000 contract to Hampshire-based Aviation Spares & Repairs for the manufacture of three additional Wrap Around Maintenance Staging units for the UK’s F-35 fleet, according to a transparency notice published on the Find a Tender service.

The notice, issued by Defence Equipment and Support on 22 July 2026, describes Wrap Around Maintenance Staging as a fall arrest and access system designed for use with UK F-35 air vehicles. According to the notice, the system provides access for inspection and maintenance tasks while mitigating the risk of working at height on the aircraft. The contract is valued at £370,000 excluding VAT, or £444,444 including VAT, with an estimated term of one year running from 31 October 2026.

The award is being made directly rather than through competition, under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023, on the grounds set out in paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 covering additional or repeat goods. The notice states that the equipment is required to allow the Lightning workforce to conduct maintenance safely and in line with health and safety regulations, and that the staging must closely follow the contours of the aircraft, meaning generic staging is not suitable.

According to the notice, the original contract for the staging was awarded to Aviation Spares & Repairs through competition in 2018 under the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011. The company is therefore the original equipment manufacturer and holds exclusive intellectual property rights to the technical drawings needed to manufacture the equipment, with the notice stating that only the OEM has the drawings, tools, knowledge and expertise to produce staging compatible with the aircraft.

The notice sets out that an unforeseen requirement for additional units has arisen to meet a need to expand concurrent maintenance activities. Compatibility across all working at height assemblies is required so the modules can be used interchangeably, and the notice states that a different solution would result in two incompatible sets of staging being used simultaneously, creating disproportionate technical difficulties and leaving no reasonable alternatives.

The UK operates the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B variant, flown by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm from RAF Marham in Norfolk and from the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.