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Sres: El siguiente tema no supe donde mas ponerlo, so....
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Es triste ver el final de tan mitico aparato, por lo menos en la RAF. Mas de alguna vez lo imagine con la estrella solitaria en la cola. Por ahí algun general lo recomendaba para el TOA. Entiendo que todavía quedan algunos operadores mas, pero a mi forma de ver, dejara de servir en donde mas brillo y donde escribió paginas de magnifica historia en el combate aereo.
Saludos
Britain Moves Forward on Harrier Support Agreements
End of the Harrier fleet – and carriers. (Oct 18/10)
“Future Contracting for Availability” involves the removal of traditional “parts and hours” maintenance contracts in favor of fixed-price long-term support for vehicles throughout their service lives, plus performance awards based on number of vehicles available. It has become a fixture in the British defense industry, and a pillar of British procurement policy going forward. As our in-depth coverage of the ATTAC Tornado support contract shows, however, it isn’t a “big bang” process. Smaller contracts are signed for sub-components, trust and knowledge are built up, and the contracts become more comprehensive over time.
BAE Systems has won a number of these contracts, and back in January 2006, they were on their way to adding Britain’s vertical/short takeoff and landing Harrier GR7/GR9A fleet to the list. The UK MoD continued to expand these contracts, culminating in a new half-billion pound contract to support the fleet through to the end of its life… which is coming a lot sooner than the contracting parties thought.
Contracts & Key Events
In the UK, Harriers are based at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland and RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, as well as operating as required from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. Some Harrier GR9A aircraft with uprated engines have also operated from Kandahar airfield, Afghanistan.
Oct 18/10: Britain’s new government releases its 2010 Strategic Defense and Strategy Review [PDF]. The result is the end of the Harrier fleet, and of British fixed-wing naval aviation, after 2011. The F-35C may pick that baton up after 2020, but the immediate future for the Harrier fleet and its carriers is retirement:
“Over the next five years combat air support to operations in Afghanistan must be the over-riding priority: the Harrier fleet would not be able to provide this and sustain a carrier-strike role at the same time. Even after 2015, short-range Harriers – whether operating from HMS Illustrious or HMS Queen Elizabeth – would provide only a very limited coercive capability. We judge it unlikely that this would be sufficiently useful in the latter half of the decade to be a cost-effective use of defence resources…. in the transitional period, retain a reduced Tornado fleet, but remove Harrier from service in 2011 as the fast jet force moves to two operational types – Joint Strike Fighter and Typhoon. Retaining the Tornado fleet allows a fast jet contribution to be sustained in Afghanistan and support to concurrent operations which would not have been possible if Harrier was retained instead.”
HMS Ark Royal will retire almost immediately, and Britain’s MoD will decide whether to keep the LPH HMS Ocean or the carrier HMS Illustrious as its sole helicopter carrier and command ship.
April 23/09: The UK Ministry of Defence issues a new GBP 574 million support contract to BAE Systems for “depth maintenance” of the RAF and Royal Navy’s Harriers. The contract will last for the remainder of their service lives, which is currently expected to be 2018. While exchange rates are very unpredictable over that time span, the British Pound’s fall mean that at current rates, this contract would amount to about $840 million.
The previous JUMP (Joint Upgrade and Maintenance Programme) support contract, and other related Harrier contracts, will now transfer to the new HPAC (Harrier Platform Availability Contract), securing about 300 civilian jobs on site and at BAE Systems’ sites at Warton, Samlesbury and Farnborough. HPAC covers depot-level repair, maintenance, spares provision, upgrade work and technical support, all of which will be undertaken jointly with the RAF and Navy at the Harrier fleet’s main operating base at RAF Cottesmore, in Rutland. The RAF and Royal Navy will continue to carry out day-to-day flightline maintenance. UK MoD | BAE Systems
....
End of the Harrier fleet – and carriers. (Oct 18/10)
“Future Contracting for Availability” involves the removal of traditional “parts and hours” maintenance contracts in favor of fixed-price long-term support for vehicles throughout their service lives, plus performance awards based on number of vehicles available. It has become a fixture in the British defense industry, and a pillar of British procurement policy going forward. As our in-depth coverage of the ATTAC Tornado support contract shows, however, it isn’t a “big bang” process. Smaller contracts are signed for sub-components, trust and knowledge are built up, and the contracts become more comprehensive over time.
BAE Systems has won a number of these contracts, and back in January 2006, they were on their way to adding Britain’s vertical/short takeoff and landing Harrier GR7/GR9A fleet to the list. The UK MoD continued to expand these contracts, culminating in a new half-billion pound contract to support the fleet through to the end of its life… which is coming a lot sooner than the contracting parties thought.
Contracts & Key Events
In the UK, Harriers are based at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland and RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, as well as operating as required from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. Some Harrier GR9A aircraft with uprated engines have also operated from Kandahar airfield, Afghanistan.
Oct 18/10: Britain’s new government releases its 2010 Strategic Defense and Strategy Review [PDF]. The result is the end of the Harrier fleet, and of British fixed-wing naval aviation, after 2011. The F-35C may pick that baton up after 2020, but the immediate future for the Harrier fleet and its carriers is retirement:
“Over the next five years combat air support to operations in Afghanistan must be the over-riding priority: the Harrier fleet would not be able to provide this and sustain a carrier-strike role at the same time. Even after 2015, short-range Harriers – whether operating from HMS Illustrious or HMS Queen Elizabeth – would provide only a very limited coercive capability. We judge it unlikely that this would be sufficiently useful in the latter half of the decade to be a cost-effective use of defence resources…. in the transitional period, retain a reduced Tornado fleet, but remove Harrier from service in 2011 as the fast jet force moves to two operational types – Joint Strike Fighter and Typhoon. Retaining the Tornado fleet allows a fast jet contribution to be sustained in Afghanistan and support to concurrent operations which would not have been possible if Harrier was retained instead.”
HMS Ark Royal will retire almost immediately, and Britain’s MoD will decide whether to keep the LPH HMS Ocean or the carrier HMS Illustrious as its sole helicopter carrier and command ship.
April 23/09: The UK Ministry of Defence issues a new GBP 574 million support contract to BAE Systems for “depth maintenance” of the RAF and Royal Navy’s Harriers. The contract will last for the remainder of their service lives, which is currently expected to be 2018. While exchange rates are very unpredictable over that time span, the British Pound’s fall mean that at current rates, this contract would amount to about $840 million.
The previous JUMP (Joint Upgrade and Maintenance Programme) support contract, and other related Harrier contracts, will now transfer to the new HPAC (Harrier Platform Availability Contract), securing about 300 civilian jobs on site and at BAE Systems’ sites at Warton, Samlesbury and Farnborough. HPAC covers depot-level repair, maintenance, spares provision, upgrade work and technical support, all of which will be undertaken jointly with the RAF and Navy at the Harrier fleet’s main operating base at RAF Cottesmore, in Rutland. The RAF and Royal Navy will continue to carry out day-to-day flightline maintenance. UK MoD | BAE Systems
....
Es triste ver el final de tan mitico aparato, por lo menos en la RAF. Mas de alguna vez lo imagine con la estrella solitaria en la cola. Por ahí algun general lo recomendaba para el TOA. Entiendo que todavía quedan algunos operadores mas, pero a mi forma de ver, dejara de servir en donde mas brillo y donde escribió paginas de magnifica historia en el combate aereo.
Saludos
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