£300m Hawk contract to safeguard Fylde jobs

It has won three servicing contracts worth almost £300m to support the UK’s fleet of Hawk aircraft until 2020.

The contracts sustain more than 600 jobs with BAE Systems and Babcock nationwide.

Under the agreements, the two organisations will provide a range of services to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force to support TMk1/1a and T2 aircraft operations at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire and Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose in Cornwall. RAF Valley is designated as the hub of support services.

The servicing contracts cover aircraft maintenance, fleet management and technical and engineering support for the jets.

This is in addition to modification and obsolescence management along with the maintenance of master documentation.

Peter Jones, Head of Hawk UK Availability at BAE Systems, said: “These contracts will allow us to continue to deliver end-to-end service for our Hawk customers. Currently we ensure that 95 per cent of the Hawk fleet is available at any one time and we are confident in our ability to continue to deliver this.

Together with our service delivery partner, Babcock, we have managed to improve the level of support service offered to our customers and reduce the costs of their Hawk fleet. These contract awards demonstrate the excellent relationship between BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence.”

Hawk is the advanced jet trainer at the heart of the training system which prepares the Royal Navy and RAF’s next generation of pilots for life in fast jets.