26 | Flight International | 17-23 March 2015 flightglobal.com
UK DEFENCE
❯❯ One of the key elements of the work will
be the full integration of the MBDA Brimstone
2 air-to-surface missile for the UK Royal Air
Force.
This particular piece of work was contract-
ed at a value of some £72 million ($109 mil-
lion) to BAE, which completed a feasibility
trial linked to the enhancement in 2014.
Other elements of the P3E package include
avionics upgrades, improvements to the Ty-
phoon’s mission system and maintenance
equipment and capability enhancements re-
lated to its use of other weapons. These in-
clude MBDA’s Meteor beyond-visual-range
air-to-air missile and the standoff-range Storm
Shadow cruise missile.
Full integration of the Brimstone 2 will en-
able the Typhoon to carry six of the weapons,
which will be integrated using a pair of three-
round launchers. The P3E standard is sched-
uled for delivery during 2017, with the up-
grade “expected to be delivered into RAF
service in late 2018”, the UK Ministry of De-
fence says.
RADAR
Last November, meanwhile, the Eurofighter
partner nations agreed to support the devel-
opment and integration of an active electroni-
cally scanned array (AESA) radar for Ty-
phoon. The Euroradar consortium’s Captor
E-Scan will be incorporated under a €1 bil-
lion deal.
Until the point of contract, Euroradar part-
ners had self-funded AESA development ac-
tivities, including the installation of a Radar
1+ sensor and array repositioner in BAE’s in-
strumented production aircraft IPA5, shortly
before the Farnborough air show last July.
After making a show appearance, the radar
was returned to Selex ES – one of the Eurora-
dar partners – for the company to check its
installation and additional power and cooling
system performance.
BAE says that radiation hazard testing for
the new radar is currently under way at its fa-
cility in Warton, Lancashire using a Tranche 1
Typhoon aircraft. It will then be returned to
Edinburgh in Scotland, and should be flying
by the end of 2015. BAE has modified the
front and rear fuselage of the test aircraft so
that it can carry the E-Scan radar.
Ahead of the release of the UK’s new Strate-
gic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) later
this year, BAE is looking towards any sign of a
big programme from the MoD.
“From a defence industry perspective,
budgetary constraints in the UK and USA
have required us to make significant changes
to drive new efficiencies, which often leads to
the need for tough decisions about our do-
mestic footprint,” BAE chief executive Ian
King said during a Chatham House gathering
in February.
“The [SDSR] review provides a timely op-
portunity to consider the UK’s defence and
security requirements today and into the fu-
ture. For industry, including my own compa-
ny, decisions in the 2010 review led to pain-
ful adjustments, affecting the lives of many of
our employees,” King says.
“But it also gave us clarity, and more cer-
tainty for the following five years, including
commitments to a number of major, long-
term programmes that we are actively en-
gaged on today.”
King says that among arguments about de-
fence spending, “it would be a mistake to as-
sume the British public did not care about
how we see Britain’s place in the world”.“As an absolute minimum we should be
able to say that the UK customer is incredibly
happy with what it’s got,” Christie says,
claiming that just because the market is mov-
ing towards international deals, it does not
take BAE’s focus away from its home custom-
er and making sure it is happy with its fleets.
“We’re still very much dependent on the
brand of the RAF. We work very closely with
the RAF, and that brand of the RAF – whether
it’s the aircraft or the quality of the training
that they provide – that is something we take
to the market, and it’s still a massive discrimi-
nator for us.”
However, one of the key business concerns
for BAE is collaboration, because it “will not
stand alone” and has to be more international-
ised. This, Christie says, comes in varying
degrees, and some nations will more likely be
design partnerships, while others will besupply chain partnerships.
“All of our potential Middle Eastern cus-
tomers are likely to be similarly demanding –
they are going to want industrialisation. We’re
having to look at the shape of our supply
chain going forward.”
India is a good example of a market that
BAE is moving further into, because it has the
budget, but also a “bigger desire to indigenise
the capability”.
Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are
other examples of growth markets, as they are
countries with available budgets and a desire
for industrial growth.
“We’re looking to be excellent at doing that
industrialisation, just as we are at making air-
craft,” Christie says. “We’ve moved away
from the days where offsets were something
you had to do just to get the contracts. It is
now part of the requirement – we have to
think of industrialisation even before we
think of the aircraft.”
Currently, 40% of BAE’s business comes
from the UK, with the rest coming from ex-
port activities, primarily from Saudi Arabia.
“As you go through the five- to 10-year
plan, the UK goes down closer to 25%,”
Christie says. “Saudi remains large, but over-
all we have to generate significant new cus-
tomers internationally.
“Predominantly that will be the Middle
East. India will also be a big part – although at
the moment it is predominantly Hawk, it is
still a very big market for us.
“A lot of our long-term strategy is about
how we find a long-term industrial partner in-
country and develop and become an in-coun-
try entity,” he says. However, the “UK is still
absolutely key in terms of maintaining and
regenerating intellectual property”.
BAE is looking to India to see where sales
for its Hawk advanced jet trainer will go.
During last month’s Aero India show in
Bengaluru, discussions took place between
the company and Hindustan AeronauticsBAE is upgrading the Typhoon as part of its contribution to the Eurofighter consortium“Budgetary constraints in the
UK and USA have required us
to make significant changes”
IAN KING
Chief executive, BAE SystemsCrown Copyright