Air Support to Defence Operational Training

In June 2016, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the contract detailing the requirements of the future training programme, which was still under review. The purpose was to combine the different training and support packages into one programme as they expire or run their natural course. As the programme was still in its initial stages, the final details were still undecided until the contract was awarded, but it was proposed to include;

• Air to air combat training
• Air to surface training
• Joint terminal attack controller / forward air controller training (JTAC/FAC)
• Electronic Warfare (EW)
• Air Traffic Control (ATC)
• Aerospace Battle Management (ABM)
• Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD)
• Live Gunnery[1]

The initial contract was for a £700 million ($917 million)[note 1][2] package to "cover the provision of live flying assets and technical capabilities to produce effects in support of training and assurance requirements".[3] The contract, which was expected to start in 2020,[4] was for ten years (though a 15-year contract with an additional £300 million–£500 million) was possible from the outset.[5] Baseline training time is thought to be between 5,000 and 6,000 hours per year, but it is not yet stated whether this is in total or just the aerial phases.[6]

Instructional training on the Typhoon aircraft has utilised civilian personnel before and the advantage of devolving training to private companies is that the MoD only pays for the hours that it uses the service, rather than having their own people on the payroll permanently.[7] Additionally, a spokesperson confirmed that it was also a way of keeping the people who fly the fast-jets in the workstream when they come to leave the services.

These guys are as good as they come but are being drawn away by airlines once they get some experience, this [programme] keeps continuity in training and ensures pilots are learning from the best.[2]

Both the Canadian Air Force and the United States Air Force have civilian companies who provide the Red Air capability[note 2] for their training requirements.[8]

The successful bidder for the contract would have been expected to provide the Red Air capability through its own aircraft. Typically involving some slower airspeed aircraft, but would have also needed some capability in the fourth generational stage of aircraft development that was commensurate for the Lightning platform.[9]

Currently, Cobham Aviation Services supply fifteen Falcon 20 aircraft to use in the aggressor and Electronic Warfare role for the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. These are split between the airfields at Hurn (Bournemouth) and Durham Tees Valley (County Durham). Even if Cobham had been successful in the contract, these aircraft would still be supplanted by a newer (or more capable) platform.[10] It has also been stated that the aggressor role aircraft should not be something in the current RAF Fleet (such as the Hawk T.1) so that RAF Pilots "find themselves facing off with aircraft not in the British arsenal, whose capabilities they are unfamiliar with".[11]

The contract was initially estimated to have been awarded in early January 2019, but by the 24 January that year, the bids were still being scrutinised.[12][13] In March 2019, the MoD announced that they had ditched the £1.2 billion project. It was unclear whether the project was cancelled completely, or if it would be re-tendered at some point in the future.[7]

An Invitation to Negotiation (ITN) was issued in the September 2018, with four multinational companies expressing interest in the contract. These were:

• Babcock Aerospace[14]
• Cobham Aviation Services[15]
• Leonardo[16]
• Thales UK[3]

All of the above companies had partnered themselves with at least one other third party in order to deliver the aims of the contract and derive experience and talent from previous associations with military skills. Babcock teamed up with Elbit Systems Limited,[14] whilst Cobham have entered into a partnership with Draken International, 3SDL and QinetiQ in their bid.[17] Leonardo teamed up with Red Aces and Inzpire; Red Aces are already contracted to the Canadian government in their Contracted Airborne Training Services (CATS) programme.[18] Thales have had some partnerships, and had announced a deal with QinetiQ in 2016 which would see the Scorpion aircraft deployed on the contract.[19] However, in 2018, QinetiQ signed a deal with Cobham on their proposal. Similarly, Draken International had an understanding with Babcock, but later switched to the Cobham deal too.[20]

XX284 CA Hawk T.1A RAF Leeming 100 Sqn - these were to be replaced by another platform under ASDOT programme

The Fleet Air Arm Hawk T1 aircraft of 736 Naval Air Squadron are due to be phased out in 2020 and the ASDOT programme would then have assumed training for the Royal Navy. Additionally in 2027, No. 100 squadron of the RAF will cease using their Hawk T1s in the Aggressor (Red Air) role and this was proposed to fold into the ASDOT programme.[21][22]