The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded a £173 million contract to British firm Draken to provide advanced military training, boosting jobs at Teesside International Airport and other UK sites, according to a press release issued on 29 January 2025.
The five-year agreement will see Draken simulate air combat, missile threats, and electronic warfare for Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and Army personnel. Training exercises over the North Sea will use 14 Dassault Falcon 20 jets, eight L-159E ‘Honey Badger’ fighter aircraft, and one Diamond DA42, based at Teesside and Bournemouth. The contract is expected to support over 200 jobs, including 24 apprenticeships across both locations.
Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle MP announced the deal during a visit to Teesside, stating: “This investment delivers world-class training for our Armed Forces while boosting jobs and national security. Aligned with our Defence Industrial Strategy, it shows defence can be an engine for growth in every region.”
The training will prepare UK forces to counter emerging threats, including protecting Carrier Strike Groups from missile attacks and enhancing battlefield reconnaissance. Exercises will meet NATO standards, with Draken replicating adversary tactics using advanced electronic warfare systems.
Air Vice Marshal Mark Flewin, Air Officer Commanding 1 Group, said: “This partnership is fundamental to ensuring our forces out-compete adversaries. The training simulates contested environments critical for NATO readiness.”
Draken CEO Nic Anderson added: “We are proud to innovate high-end training for the warfighter. This contract reflects our team’s relentless performance.”
The MoD confirmed the contract aligns with its Plan for Change, aimed at strengthening regional economies and national security. Teesside International Airport, a key site for the programme, will see upgraded infrastructure to support the fleet. Draken’s training services, branded Interim Medium Speed Operational Readiness Training Services, will run until 2030. The MoD did not disclose further details on potential contract extensions.
IMAGE Gerard van der Schaaf, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Does Draken still have the F1 Mirages? I know they bought at least one and I think crashed at least one; but I would have thought a supersonic aggressor would come out from time to time.
Not a British firm..sadly this is a story of the destruction of a great British firm flight refueling limited, that became a big defence firm worth 4 billion under the name Cobham, the board against the will of the largest shareholder. Decided to sell to a U.S. private equity firm, the UK government gave the go ahead and this successful British firm was sold and the n the equity firm did what they always do, asset stripped it and cut up the body sold off the bits..Draken a U.S. company purchased one of limbs….well done UK government for letting another British firm fall because a greedy board wanted an immediate payoff by a U.S. equity asset stripper.
Talk about a warped and biased summary of what happened. The Board and 93% of Cobham’s shareholders approved the company’s sale for a price of 150 pence per share, a 50% premium on the share price. The largest shareholder only wanted the board to find a better offer. and was not opposed to the sale of the company. It was the 11th largest shareholder and the family that opposed the sale.
£173 million over 5 years.
Which was cheaper.
This, all contracted out.
Or the in house RAF 100 Sqn and the FAA 736 NAS, flying Hawk alongside the Dassault Falcon 20s which have flown from Hurn for decades providing the EW element.
I read the headline and thought “Draken isn’t a UK firm is it?” Came to the comments section to find the backstory behind this. Still… never let the truth get in the way of a politicians spin hey ..
Wow, I can’t believe that we are calling Draken British because they bought up one part of Cobham. The selling of Cobham and now the subsequent destruction of Cobham’s operations and manufacturing in the UK should be a scandal. How did we let this happen???
Useless, inept, possibly corrupt politicians. When the choice for the electorate is between one proven incompetent or another, democracy doesn’t work well.
The failure to prevent British companies falling into foreign hands has been disastrous for long term wealth creation. And it continues with the Royal Mail ltakeover nodded through. The only remedy I can see is to nationalise without compensation whenever undertakings that secured approval are broken eg ARM Holdings.
I would highly recommend watching Aircrew Interview on YouTube. There is one interview with a former RAF pilot who who flies one of the Honey badger and he shows you around it, quite interesting
Could we not have Hawk T1/T2s trainer aircraft undertake the dissimilar air combat training? or too low performance to go up against Typhoon and F35B in real combat?
I thought we had a shortage of T2s thanks to engine issues.
We use to but the Hawk T1’s have been retired with no replacement
So another example of paying through the nose to fill a capability gap that was caused by false economies?
As I posted above.
RAF had 100 Sqn on Hawk for aggressor role and the FAA had the same with 736 NAS.
Going way back, there was FRADU, which included a det at Gib.
Ahhh FRADU and the days of Canberras and Hunters 🤩
Why can’t we just hire Tom Cruise?
He’s global top gun and can survive a mach 10 crash and be well enough to order a pint right afterwards.
He does tend to crash a lot though and it does mean all pilots are contractualy obliged to sing “Danger Zone!” when in the cockpit.