Defence

By Craig Hoyle in London

The UK’s delayed Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) project will provide the Royal Air Force with a core fleet of just nine modified Airbus A330-200s, the service has revealed.

Air Cdre Carl Dixon, the Ministry of Defence’s director equipment capability for air and littoral manoeuvre, says the FSTA fleet will total 14 aircraft, nine of which will be dedicated to RAF use. The remainder will be made available for third-party use but held at short-notice readiness to support surge operations, Dixon told the Royal United Services Institute’s Air Power conference in London last week.

Originally intended to replace the RAF’s 28 Lockheed TriStar and Vickers VC10 tanker-transports from 2009, the private finance initiative project has struggled to make progress for more than two years, despite the February 2005 confirmation of EADS-led AirTanker as preferred bidder. However, the MoD is now expected to put forward its business case seeking "Main Gate" approval for the £12.5 billion ($23.4 billion) programme in July, with a contract signature on the 27-year deal expected in late 2006 or 2007.