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F-35B Lightning jets from 617 Squadron take off from RAF Marham to take part in the UK MoD Air Maritime Integration exercise
BELFAST – In a rare joint appearance before lawmakers, top officials from the United Kingdom’s defense industry this week revealed some troubling problems affecting some of the Royal Air Force’s most expensive aircraft programs.
At a defense committee hearing on Tuesday, a top Lockheed Martin executive, for example, suggested that the British government was purposefully delaying the delivery of 47 F-35B aircraft, though it was not immediately clear why. Separately, supplier issues have forced Boeing to delay E-7 Wedgetail Mk1 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft deliveries from 2023 to 2024. That means the RAF faces a three-year fixed-wing airborne early warning capability gap.
The Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft also suffered from a number of technical problems in 2022, which Airbus UK director of military affairs Sir Kevin Leeson referred to as “a regrettable collection of findings”. The company said those problems had been rectified, but on the same day a government inspector revealed that the MoD had shelved plans to buy additional A400Ms because they could not afford them.
All three aircraft acquisition problems show how the RAF continues to struggle to generate new frontline capabilities in a timely manner and against a backdrop of Russian and Chinese threats. Should a problem occur with the E-7 in particular, one wonders how well the British Air Force would be able to see an attack coming.
‘Handshake’ on F-35 delivery changes, and more
On combat air matters, the decision to slow down F-35 deliveries was announced by Lockheed Martin UK chief executive Paul Livingston.
“Just to clarify that our delivery is not falling, that’s when the MoD chooses to take their options into this. [current] A lot of production,” he said. “It’s a change.”
Livingston did not explain why the MoD made the decision, but it could be another sign that the military continues to struggle with financial pressures. The MoD had not responded to a request for comment on the delivery schedule change at the time of publication.
Related: Economic woes could put UK in firing line for more defense takeovers
Those financial pressures have for some time made analysts question whether the original commitment to buy 138 fifth-generation fighters would be honored. In his testimony, Livingston referred to the first batch of 48 fighters.
“At the moment the UK has decided to take its near-term purchases and spread them out further. It’s already part of the 48 on contract, so those delivery dates have gone. We were expecting eight, eight and nine. [UK aircraft] In the next three [production] A lot, but it’s nowhere near that,” he said.
A Lockheed Martin spokesperson confirmed in a December 1 statement to Breaking Defense that a total of 30 F-35B aircraft have been delivered to the UK so far, with a further seven to be delivered in 2023. The remaining 11 will follow in 2024 and 2025, according to the spokesperson. The spokesperson did not share a specific delivery schedule for 2024 and 2025, but the breakdown of six and five aircraft per year fits with Livingston’s claim that the delivery rate is slowing.
“As those lots are negotiated with a lower fee per lot, that may change the price [F-35]B,” Livingstone said of the UK order for the second phase, which is expected to buy an additional 24 to 27 aircraft. “I can’t say how much it will change the price because it will depend on volume and [orders from] other [F-35]B Customers.”
Livingston also revealed that the MoD and Lockheed Martin UK have already reached a “handshake agreement” on pursuing the F-35 order, with the two sides specifically discussing production lots 15, 16 and 17.
The US Although London faces serious financial problems in its F-35 procurement due to rising foreign exchange rates and increased costs for weapons integration, Livingston said recurring flyaway unit costs for the B variant have fallen by 51 percent. The program began and is now 39 per cent lower than the first UK delivery in 2012.
“The cost of the program is going up, not down,” he said.
Supply Chain Wise Pushes Vegetables to 2024
Elsewhere, a 244-day increase in the average supplier lead time for E-7 parts has delayed the first aircraft delivery to Boeing to 2024 at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland. The new timetable changes come after the RAF admitted in October 2022 that the original target was there. Initial operating capability for new early warning aircraft from 2023 was delayed to 2024, without further expansion.
“Supply chain is one of the biggest challenges [we face]I think it’s very important to note that when we entered into the first E-7 contract with the Department of Defense in 2019, we made the best assessment. [regarding] “The schedule we can do, and nobody could have predicted a global pandemic,” said Anna Keeling, managing director of Boeing UK. “He is the biggest driver [on delivery schedule changes]”
The UK currently faces a significant airborne early warning capability gap after the Boeing E-3D Sentry is retired in 2021. The decision to reduce the E-7 procurement from five to three aircraft based on cost savings has also been a major source of political controversy. .
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All three aircraft are based in Birmingham, England, as they undergo conversion from the 737 Next Generation commercial airframe to the E-7 standard.
Boeing announced Nov. 4 that the first Northrop Grumman Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar has been installed after testing at the latter’s radar range in Linthicum, Mo. The radar can detect targets at “increasingly longer ranges”. For Boeing.
As for the financial burden, Keeling said at the hearing that he was “not able to discuss” the costs for the E-7 program because the MoD has yet to sign off on the full business case, a key document that covers costs and the like. The schedule is expected to be approved in 2023.
“We definitely identified some cost savings to keep the program and that’s what we’re committed to delivering,” she explained.
Under the original order for five aircraft in 2019, Boeing and the UK agreed to a deal worth $1.98 billion, but the E-7 project remains uneasy over management issues. “It kind of came to light that the budget for three aircraft would not be that different from the budget for five because of the overall underestimation of costs by the MoD,” UK defense analyst Frances Tusa said.
Technical problem ‘Discoveries’ hit A400M
Turning to A400M development, Leeson said that “discoveries” or new technical problems “are things that shouldn’t go wrong quite easily.”
“We had a bit of trouble with it over the summer but now I’m happy to say we’re fully through it and the onus is on to make sure the customer isn’t prejudiced,” he said.
Leeson did not go into details of the technical problems but acknowledged that other outstanding issues for the program include the lack of clearance for static line parachute jumping and the fact that a number of special forces “capabilities” have still not been delivered, with “some” liability. Of the MoD, he explained.
As for the “problems”, an Airbus spokesperson told Breaking Defense this week, “Earlier in the year some aircraft in the UK fleet were found to have some corrosion in the landing gear bay. We worked closely with our customer and resolved the issue across the fleet.”

The UK has ordered 22 A400M Atlas transport aircraft but a “regrettable collection of findings” has put the program in trouble this year (Airbus UK).
Still, the issue was the latest example of Airbus struggling with the 400 technical and operational challenges it has faced in the past, including gearbox problems, public criticism by managers of poor availability rates and persistent doubts about whether the aircraft could meet all requested capacity requirements. . of them The A400M is a different type of aircraft to the Lockheed Martin C130J tactical airlifter that will replace it in 2023, and offers twice the payload, but is believed to be unpopular among UK special forces operators because it is less agile for landing.
Regardless, both an Airbus spokesperson and Leeson painted a more optimistic picture, with Leeson noting that Airbus UK had succeeded in “delivering” on the agreed availability target for the A400M. Airbus announced on 11 October that it had delivered 21 of the 22 A400Ms on order for the RAF.
The program suffered another blow, however, on the same day as Leeson’s testimony, when the National Audit Office’s (NAO) “Defence Equipment Plan 2022 to 2032” report revealed that the MoD would not purchase additional A400M aircraft after deciding on the option to do so. “Effective.” Instead, funding will be put toward “developing an affordable option” to improve aircraft availability. The annual NAO report assesses the MoD’s long-term financial plans, procurement program cost estimates and addresses other items such as infrastructure and operations.
In addition to the A400, E-7 and F-35 program problems, Livingston also discussed the Crownest carrier-based airborne early warning radar program and admitted that Lockheed did not “clearly understand” the “depth of the problems” faced by subcontractor Thales. But even that had turned a corner, he said.
“I am happy to say that from today and [based] On Carrier Strike Group 22 [feedback]The latest version of 12.2 [Crowsnest] The software is performing well,” he said. “It’s more stable. It’s coming up with capacity. It’s taken a lot of time. We’re very sorry about that.”
According to Livingston, Lockheed Martin and other Crownest suppliers are also now in discussions with the Royal Navy to agree on additional “specifications” for the system. He said, however, that an in-service date entry for the radar could not be provided until those discussions were closed and the specifications approved.
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