Manufacturer anxious to seal "strip and survey" package to retain skills as development phase begins to tail off
BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence are negotiating to begin preparatory work on Nimrod MRA4 production in advance of a final contract being placed. The move to begin "strip and survey" work on five old Nimrod MR2 airframes comes as engine ground tests and taxi trials on the first MRA4 prototype are due to start within days, ahead of the aircraft's first flight in mid-year. The MRA4's Rolls-Royce Deutschland BR710 engines have yet to be started while installed in the aircraft.
Some of the work packages on long-lead items proposed by BAE have already been approved by the MoD and others are being considered, say company executives.
Nimrod project managers at BAE say the preparatory work is necessary to protect the jobs of key staff at the company's Woodford plant, where work on the MRA4 has been undertaken to date. With the signature of a final production deal not due until December 2005, BAE is only contracted to carry out development work, which is beginning to tail off. When the Nimrod project was restructured early last year the company projected job losses of 492 at Woodford, but it has so far only had to issue around 40 compulsory redundancy letters.
Undertaking the preparatory work and keeping the experienced staff employed are considered to be essential steps in ensuring a smooth transition from development to production to allow the company to meet the MRA4's revised 2009 in-service date.
This will be declared with the targeted delivery of the Royal Air Force's sixth of 18 remanufactured Nimrods. Six hundred of BAE's 850 employees at Woodford work on the Nimrod project.
"We are talking about bringing old aircraft [fuselages] back to a standard ready to go into production," says Joe Harland, BAE Systems' Nimrod managing director. "This is low risk and the customer acknowledges that. It will help mitigate further redundancy while we await the final [production] decision."
The five MR2 airframes involved are at Woodford after being delivered under the previous programme, which involved simultaneous development and production work. Under the restructuring of the project, production work was halted as efforts were concentrated on development until the design was considered mature enough to begin production. Company executives describe the proposed preparatory activity as "safe structure" work that will not be affected by any future changes to the design.
TIM RIPLEY / WOODFORD
Source: Flight International