More than 550 tonnes of steel have been supplied by a company local to RAF Lossiemouth as facilities for supporting the UK’s E-7 Wedgetail fleet continue to take shape.
DE&S placed a £83 million contract in March 2023 with Boeing Defence UK who is working with its local supplier McLaughlin & Harvey to build the facilities which are situated alongside the Atlantic Building, from which the UK’s fleet of nine Poseidon MRA Mk1 aircraft already operate.
And Simmers Contracts, a family-business from Moray, just 25 miles from Lossiemouth has been sub-contracted to supply 7,000m2 of cladding and 556 tonnes of steel for building the base frame structure of the Wedgetail Line Engineering Squadron building for routine maintenance and aircraft upgrades and a second building, dedicated to mission systems training.
The E-7 Wedgetail programme is supporting hundreds of jobs in the region, say the Ministry of Defence, boosting the local supply chain.
Lyndon Jones, E-7 Wedgetail Infrastructure lead at DE&S said:
“The E-7 programme is critical, not only in the development of a capability that will equip our Armed Forces with a competitive edge to protect the nation but also by providing UK prosperity.”
Steve Burnell, managing director of Boeing Defence UK said:
“Boeing leverages the strength of its local supply chain to support the communities where we are proud to live and work. Through our relationship with Mclaughlin & Harvey, we are pleased to have Simmers Contracts play a pivotal role in the construction of the new facilities for the UK’s E-7 Wedgetail aircraft, as we continue to work with the RAF to prepare the fleet’s entry into service.”
The E-7 Wedgetail infrastructure program is expected to complete early in 2025.
Whilst the treasury pays the bills it doesn’t (although it tries I’m sure) dictate policy or make buying decisions. Policy is made by the politicians who also agree the budget. I’m not sure where the “military procurement protects prosperity” comes from but it seems misleading to me. Military procurement of goods from overseas tends to undermine prosperity. Domestic production of military equipment means that the UK is utilising it’s own labour force and therefore feeding money back to HMRC. However at times of full employment domestic procurement can distract the workforce from generating exports which is a negative thing. Either way the number of aircraft bought should reflect the military priorities of forces as agreed with the politicians whilst working within the agreed budget.
There are lots of defence projects that come in on or under budget and on time or earlier. They don’t make headlines though so it can give the appearance everything is rubbish. When looking at other countries defence projects and the issues they have it can make the U.K. mod look like a model department
Morning MS, I was going to say something similar on another post. Yes, we pick on a lot on the little we actually see and only partially know about in truth and can get passionate on this site but there are always some more levelled heads amongst us. Lol 😁
“The elephant in the hangar maybe?”
Elephant you say, hmm, can we put one of the spare radars on its back?
Surprised we are bothering for only 3 airframes
Don’t be.
For decades we have operated 3 aircraft in the ELINT role, from Nimrod R1 to RC135.
So same number as the ASCS capability.
And the ground based infrastructure supporting that capability is I believe far more extensive than this outlay for E7.
Every capability, no matter how many assets are at the sharp end, needs a tail.
👏
They are…..that is their day job!
You people are very sad, read a dj post and write nonsense! Get a life and educate yourself x
Trev, seriously mate. I’m actually being deadly serious and I have a very good life thank you. I’ve been on this site for a very long time. You sound like a first timer with a stupid comment like that! Try opening your eyes and mind a bit more.
Terrible sorry old boy had a day off and was a bit drunk, obviously not an excuse for being a bellend but I do apologise! Me vodka no agree not a soviet spy!!!!
Kind regards
I do rant on about GBAD and the perceived lack of it and have done for quite a while. There are many excellent commentators here, experienced and not, I’m not, but I’m quite passionate about this issue. Enjoy your vodka and I’ll go back to my ☕ which here in Sydney is excellent.
Being first to anything doesn’t make you better nipper. My problem is with ill informed people posting nonsense ie what you do, Sydney lol 😂 I’ve lived and worked in Australia and if that’s your trump card I feel sorry for you x
Sorry Trev, no offence but it sounds like your vodka is taking effect. Maybe best you leave this site to others.
Sydney is a very decent place so are the people in this country. I’ve been here nearly 40 years.
Shut the 🚪 after you leave.
Moring Mate- on form today!😉
Good morning Klonkie, yes, he got up my 🐐 pretty quick.
Talking of P-8s. I read that the RZNAF is sending up one to patrol off North Korea? Has NZ got all four of its P-8s?
It seems you have come down with everything British is rubbish disease. This will be a state of the art engineering facility for a state of the art capability. You want the best, The E7 is the best when it comes to AEW and ISTAR. Would more airframes be nice? Yes, it would. But for now, 3 it is. But combined with P8, Protector, RC135, Shadow mk2 and F35. Our ISTAR/combat air capability has never been better. No other nation in Europe has that combination of assets and capability.
Hello Robert I remain cautiously optimistic we will see another par of 737 airframes ordered for the two spare radars . Why buy 5 sets of a very expensive radar -that seems illogical.
UK ISTAR would have been even better if we had retained and updated Sentinel.
What’s the going rate for a used 737NG anyway? I’m sure I read that cutting airframes from 5 > 3 only saved 12% of the overall planned cost. Sure the spreadsheet looks better but it’s infuriating to watch as the govt seems to find the cash for other (IMO) less deserving causes……..
What, the ‘fleet’ of three? Cosmic! 🤦🏻♂️
Hypothetically, if the RAF ever did get additional E-7 and P-8s would they still concentrate them all at Lossiemouth? Good for ops, maintenance, logistics, costs etc and there must be a lot of room available but wouldn’t having a second site, maybe somewhere in the lower west of the UK, just be prudent for the dispersion of major air assets like these?
Somewhere like St Mawgan?
It looks a ripper of a big shed! 😁
The RAF needs to stop putting so much kit at Lossie. A very large proportion of personnel simply don’t want to be up there. People like places such as Lincolnshire because it’s in easy reach of most of the UK, you can go and visit friends and family at the weekend, or go home if you lived in the block during the week. Lossie is too far away to make that feasible for most people. There is already a massive retention issue in the RAF, posting people to the middle of nowhere only makes it worse.
It is the , RAF, you go where they send you. That is your choice, when you sign up.
The reason the , Poseidon and wedgetails, are based in Lossiemouth, is because it is closer to Russia and the North Atlantic gap , between UK and Iceland. Quicker response times and more time on patrol. This is to detect Russian submarines, heading into the Atlantic. This is why the Americans, have invested heavily in upgrades at Lossiemouth.
When I signed up, there was a hell of a lot more choice in postings. The only reason the E7 is going there is because they government cut the numbers. When 5 were ordered, Boeing were going to build a purpose-built hangar at Waddington. When the order was cut to 3, it no longer made financial sense to do so.
Plus the comment of “you go where they send you”, doesn’t work nowadays. People aren’t signing up for a career, they’re joining with the full intention of gaining training and work experience, then moving on. So they’re going to have to start offering a damn sight more money to attract people to the arse-end of nowhere.
Ridiculous with only 3 aircraft ordered.
Quentin,
Received notification of your comment via email, although not currently available w/in comments section of this article. Thanks. 😊. At the very least, believe it should add to the argument for installation of effective GBAD, ASAP.
sub edit to Quentin- ditto re your post to me! Something odd on the go here
RAF and their MEGA bases, one nuc and the most of the RAF’s fighting force is gone. Also its not spreading the Defence pounds around as in the past.
There used to be 2 large bases there and no one had issues living up there in the past but now the youth want everything easy for them.
Who is running the RAF, sounds like they couldn’t run a bath these days. Sad situation the UK Armed forces are in. One of the biggest defence budgets on earth yet have little to show for it. Come on UK Gov wake up to what’s happening in the World for WW3 may just be around the corner and we need protecting. SHAMBLES
Do we need hugely expensive facilities for just 3 aircraft?
I’m jesting of course but having a very limited fleet is going to be a problem.