The Ministry of Defence has extended its support contract with Airbus for the Royal Air Force’s A400M Atlas fleet in a deal worth £190 million, which it says will raise the number of mission-capable aircraft available each day from ten to thirteen by the end of 2027.
That amounts to a 30 per cent improvement in availability for the tactical and strategic airlift fleet, according to the department, and the extension sustains more than 350 jobs in the United Kingdom. Airbus will continue maintenance, repair and support work from its UK Support Centre at RAF Brize Norton, where the Atlas force is based.
The notice gives a value just short of £190 million and an award decision date of 8 September. Estimated contract dates run from 1 October this year to 30 April 2029, with a possible twelve-month extension to April 2030 if that is needed to maintain national in-service support. The procedure used was a direct award under the defence and security special regime.
The supplier is listed as Airbus Military Sociedad Limitada, registered at Getafe near Madrid and trading in Britain as Airbus Defence and Space Limited, with Airbus Military UK Limited at Carterton in Oxfordshire, the town adjoining Brize Norton, recorded as an associated organisation, and the contract locations are given as the United Kingdom and Spain.
Availability has been the persistent difficulty with the Atlas rather than the aircraft itself. The Royal Air Force operates a fleet of twenty-two, delivered from 2014 onwards, and they took on the bulk of the transport task after the C-130J Hercules left service in 2023, a withdrawal that drew considerable criticism at the time and left the Atlas and the C-17 Globemaster carrying everything between them.
Moving the daily figure from ten aircraft to thirteen is therefore a larger change than the raw numbers may show, it represents the difference between roughly half the fleet being usable and closer to three fifths.
C-130 was often 100% availability – dumb to ditch them
C-130 availability averaged 71% at time of retirement. This is a contractual obligation to provide a minimum of 61.9% daily availability from the current fleet or 13/21. The previous maintenance contract was signed to produce a minimum availability of 10 when they owned 16 or 62.5% minimum availability.
In essence they are just increasing maintenance resources to match the larger fleet which the previous government hadn’t done.
Does RAF air transport work like ‘buying’ a new ( unaffordable) car. Is this a leasing deal? Do we chop them in after 18000 miles?
wow, only 10 a day are currently available? I bet its a much lower number in reality.