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https://www.defense-aerospace.com/artic ... eport.htmlBritain’s Ministry of Defence has opened talks with Boeing to reduce its order for E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft,
less than 18 months after signing a $1.98 billion contract to buy five of the aircraft.
The MoD’s attempt to reduce contract costs appear to be driven by the fact
that they have jumped nearly 50% in just 15 months, from $1.98 billion in March 2019
to £2.1 billion ($2.68 billion at today’s exchange rate).
In an attempt to save money,
MoD approached Boeing during the summer 2020
to reduce the number of aircraft from five to three,
The Times’ defense correspondent Lucy Fisher reported in a series of Tweets posted this morning.
“MoD is thought to believe reducing (but not scrapping) Wedgetail order
could save hundreds of millions of pounds over 10 years,
while maintaining several hundred skilled jobs,” Fisher tweeted.
She added that “US figures [are] unhappy,
after Boeing invested in initiatives to boost UK industry,”
and quoted one source as saying
“The Americans are pretty angry about it.
It's bad for Boeing [and] the UK has welched on its pre-agreed commitments
when the US have been pretty accommodating in trying to help them plug a gap."
Wedgetail is intended to replace the Royal Air Force’s fleet of six Boeing E-3D AWACS aircraft,
two of which are virtually retired
and considered “long-term unserviceable assets” by the RAF.
According to Britain’s 2015 Strategic Defense and Security Review,
the E-3D Sentrys were planned to remain operational through 2035,
but this depended on a proposed £2 billion upgrade
which was later abandoned in order to achieve savings and generate RAF near-term efficiencies.
According to the 2019 contract, the first RAF Wedgetail is due to be in service in 2023.
The aircraft is currently in service with Australia, South Korea and Turkey.
“Compromise could yet be struck in which UK only reduces order by one, taking total to four jets,” Fisher added.
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