Joint modification/maintenance initiative pays dividends
The UK's joint BAE Systems and Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) -run Harrier GR9 upgrade is on track to release its first aircraft to service on 1 April, and to meet its September 2006 in-service date, say programme officials.
A total of 60 GR9s and 10 T12 two-seat trainers will be delivered to the UK's Joint Force Harrier by late 2008 under an effort, worth around £500 million ($935 million), to enhance the operational effectiveness of its current Harrier GR7/T10 force.
BAE and DLO officials last week formally opened a Joint Upgrade and Maintenance Programme facility for the Harrier GR9 at RAF Cottesmore, the main operating base for the UK's GR7 fleet. The new support and modernisation infrastructure - dubbed the pulse line - will save £44 million over the next four years, while also improving aircraft availability rates and fleet commonality. "This is a partnering success between the Ministry of Defence and industry", says UK chief of defence logistics Gen Sir Kevin O'Donoghue.
The programme's third aircraft to undergo modification to the GR9 standard entered work on 19 January, with this process to take around 200 days to complete. By aircraft 11 - the last now under contract - this will fall to 176 days. A Gate 3 deal for the programme's remaining 59 aircraft will be signed before the end of this year.
The UK's first GR9 will be delivered to an evaluation unit at RAF Coningsby in a Capability A training configuration approved last November. The improved GR9 will deploy a range of smart weapons, including Raytheon Systems' Paveway IV precision-guided bomb from April 2007 and MBDA's Brimstone anti-armour missile from March 2008.
CRAIG HOYLE / RAF COTTESMORE
Source: Flight International
