Babcock has been awarded a 10-year multi-million contract for the global support of air transit and aircraft operation equipment by the Aeronautical Maintenance Department (French Ministry of Armed Forces).
This is Babcock’s first significant Land Sector contract in France, and will be supported by capability transfer from our UK business. France is a focus country for Babcock, and this new contract extends its support for the French Armed Forces.
“In the first half of 2023, Babcock, in partnership with AES and TLD (part of Alvest Group), will set up operations on five military bases in France, including a customer-focused support coordination centre in Bordeaux-Beauséjour. Teams of technicians will work on 26 military bases (Air Force, Navy and Army) in France and abroad with a workshop truck.”
Babcock will be responsible for management, fleet management including fleet rationalisation and renewal, and maintenance of a large part of the equipment. AES will be responsible for logistical support, supply and delivery of spare parts and TLD will provide specific high-value-added equipment.
Pierre Basquin, CEO Babcock France said:
“This first GSE contract is an important and strategic step for Babcock in France, and we are proud that the Aeronautical Maintenance Department has trusted us to provide this essential service. This new contract places us in a good position for future opportunities in the land sector and with the French armed forces. We are looking forward to this new challenge.”
Another reason why I think our big defence companies should be partially owned by the UK state, with them now focusing a lot more international business the profits should come back to the UK gov in dividends. Then that can be re invested into the defence budget.
Here, here. …and any costs (wages etc.) wind up being spent back into the UK economy. Defence = key strategic industry. At the very least there should be some sort of UK agency overseeing strategic capabilities and reseources (not the MoD).
Like I’m not taking about full nationalization but something along the lines how the French state owns a bit of EDF and Thales. Imagine if we had kept like 10% in BP. I know its easier to look in hindsight but it just feels like british governments have an obsession with selling anything off just to make some money in the short term.
Absolutely and then they leave the longer term problems it creates to other Govts to sort out. The whole economy has been progressively working on these lines since Thatcher’s time and a lot of the state we are in is due to the short term benefits having been long gone as the longer term problems and costs continue to escalate as we persist with this dead end process.
That’s the problem with democracy, spending billions on something that might not be active for 10 or 20 years doesn’t win votes.
Like I see myself as centre left leaning but I can see the advantage of the house of Lords (needs reform don’t get me wrong), they can make decisions as they are not worrying about getting elected. Plus you can get experts in there fields as members who would probably not be active in politics if they had to be elected. Sorry for the tangent haha.
I suspect you gentlemen are not old enough to remember the “good old days” of partially state owned and nationalized industries. Every single one of them was costly, inefficient, old fashioned, badly managed and union bullied disasters.😩
well said Geoff!
Too right.
Could not have put it better myself Mr Roach. The government starts bringing the railways back under one umbrella organisation and look what happens – national strikes, the first for 30 years!
Excellent point. Madness in the 2020’s! Like times gone by.🙃
Network Rail has been run by the Department of Transport since 2002 and a lot of the trains are still run under franchise.
The pandemic changed things. The government had no choice but to put a huge amount of cash (£16B?) into the railways because of the massive drop in usage. Even now the franchises are not running as intended because passenger numbers are still way down – home working etc. they are still more reliant on state funding than planned. This is why the RMT want to get the government to the negotiating table. I also have a suspicion that the formation of Great British Railways will mean a more centralised management structure that will play right into the hands of the… Read more »
You sirs are a bunch of reactionary old farts. My father worked in a nationalised industry and worked bloody hard (dangerous too). When he asked for a fair days pay he was villified in the media along the lines of what you have written above. Broke him in the end. I miss him. Oh and prior to giving the best years of his life to the mines he was in the infantry…..
May I request that you keep your opinions on topic and to the point?#
God bless him and all the miners who worked so hard in very dangerous conditions.
Thank you.
Same can be said about most private companies in the uk during the period, which is why they all got taken over by overseas interests or completely went under.
Despite what the likes of the BBC may say industrial production fell in the 60s and 70s and in the Blair/Brown years too. It rose in the 50s and strongly under the Thatcher government. There is an obvious correlation which there is no need for me to point out.
Have you got data for this as it seems somewhat unlikely as in the case of Mr Blair & Mr Brown there policy’s didn’t differ much from say John Major
Try this https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Feconomy%2Fdid-labour-decimate-manufacturing%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7Ca741fdfa55264157fb6708dae214212f%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638070873328543209%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2FmmBhITzymCI7Vj9qyYnJDQsaCwD1y9QACbHtDHP9tw%3D&reserved=0
The French Government owns 80% of EDF with talks, due to the horrendous current energy market costs, that it might buy the rest under the time proven trait of the bankers getting the profits and the State the losses. As per Nat West etc.with the few getting the double cream and the rest of us red top milk, so to speak.
Yeah. Exactly.
I’m not suggesting full nationalization either. I would like the UK to have some sort of agency (not MoD) that over-sees and nurtures Uk strategic capabilities and resources. A little bit like the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) did in WWII for aeroplane stuff.
I very much doubt that they would be wining this overseas business if they were a state run company
I agree Simon. Indeed Bae would not have its very large US business if it were state run or the UK state was seen to be a stakeholder.