Air Power 2017

62 AIR POWER 2017

21 ST CENTURY CAPABILITIES

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

and the extent to which they have changed the
relationship between the individual Armed Services
and the MOD. “These reforms, that rusticated the
requirements staff out to the front-line commands,
have happened and are working,” he confirms.
However, it has been a challenging process.
Moving from a single, centrally focused staff to multiple
staffs means that there are numerous people in his
customer base who have been given responsibilities
that would not have been devolved to them in the
past. Consequently, they have needed DE&S support,
and so, as AM Young explains: “I have focused on
helping Air Command enhance the ‘transactional
relationship’ between us as customer and supplier,
and yet, at the same time, remain all of one cloth with
shared capability values.” The same can be said of
his other customers in the Royal Navy and Army.

GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
Relationships are absolutely key. They span many strata
and organisation types. Beyond the armed services,
DE&S is required to form partnerships with a variety of
domestic and international industry sectors, as well as

with foreign government offices and ministries. The

best way to highlight how these partnerships vary

and the extent to which they are enjoying success

is to examine the procurement projects that the

service requirements have realised most recently.

It is sometimes overlooked that much of the

cost of a procurement programme relates not solely

to the acquisition, but is weighed more heavily on its

through-life support. Suppressing such costs will go a

long way towards balancing future defence budgets.

This explains why DE&S and AM Young are very pleased

with the TyTAN (Typhoon Total Availability eNterprise)

contract that covers the 10-year maintenance

requirements of the Typhoon multirole fast jet.

TYPHOON AND F-35B LIGHTNING

The RAF has been pioneering contracting for availability

since 2003. Under this type of arrangement, the

MOD has migrated from buying spares from industry

to effectively buying flying hours – contracting for

availability and capability. Until recently, the 2005

Tornado ATTAC (Availability Transformation Tornado

Aircraft Contract), which took out 43% of the

support costs, was the high point. Now, the

TyTAN contract has, in AM Young’s estimation,

taken that to a new watershed – but it has been

a hard slog. “The contract was let on 30 July 2016.

Prior to that, BAE Systems, along with the other

contractors and ourselves, worked for the best part

of three years to get to that point,” he explains.

As well as ensuring that Typhoon is maintained

efficiently, DE&S is also supervising a weapons

upgrade known as Project Centurion. Here, the

added complication is the partnership complexity

derived from Typhoon being a four-nation

programme with Germany, Italy and Spain.

The RAF’s first P-8A

Poseidon is due to

roll off the Boeing

production line on

27 March 2019

(PHOTO: © THE

BOEING COMPANY)

The F-35B Lightning

will achieve its

Initial Operational

Capability status on

land operations in

December 2018