난항을 겪고 있는 영국 공군의 차기 공중급유기 도입사업, The RAF FSTA...

 

영국 공군이 민간 자본을 통한 리스방식의 차기 공중급유기 도입 사업의 문제점을 지적한 영국 일간 가디언紙의 기사 내용을

소개합니다. 영국 공군은 Airbus A330-200 14대를 2011년부터 27년간 장기 임차 형태로 들여오는 FSTA (Future Strategic

Tanker Aircraft) 사업을 AirTanker 사가 주도하고, EADS, Rolls-Royce, Cobham 등 5개사가 참여하는 컨소시엄과 총액

105억 파운드에 계약한 바 있습니다.

 

그러나 최근 영국 감사원의 (National Audit Office) 보고서를 통해, FSTA 의 성능문제와 일정 지연에 따르는 비용 증가 등을

지적하고 있다는 내용입니다. 성능에 있어서는 아프가니스탄과 같은 위험지역에서의 공중급유기로써 자체방어시스템이 전혀

갖추어지지 않았으며, 향후 FSTA 의 배치 기지로 예정하고 있는 잉글랜드 Oxfordshire 지역의 공군기지 재개발 일정 지연 등,

이러한 문제점들을 종합적으로 풀기 위해서는 약 20억 파운드의 추가 자금과 전체 개발 일정의 지연이 불가피 하다고 합니다.

 

또한 기사에서는 영국 국방성의 A400M 수송기의 구입물량 축소 및 고등훈련기 도입사업 관련 내용도 언급하고 있으며, 영국

야당 보수당의 논평도 포함되어 있습니다.

 

향후 우리 대한민국 공군이 계획하고 있는 공중급유기 도입사업 추진과정에서도 충분히 참고할 내용이라 판단됩니다.

 

 

  ⓒ Airbus Photo

 

Audit office slams MoD's PFI nightmare

 

• Airbus refuelling craft can't be used in war zone

• Five-year delay will raise cost by hundreds of millions 

Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, Tuesday 30 March 2010

 

A £10bn defence deal turned into a "bureaucratic nightmare" after the government insisted on using private finance to keep the cost off the national balance sheet, according to a highly critical National Audit Office report out today.

 

The Ministry of Defence signed the deal for a fleet of multi-role RAF tanker and passenger aircraft – which has been delayed for more than five years – without properly considering any alternative option, parliament's financial watchdog concludes.

 

Affordability, rather than value for money, led the MoD to negotiate a PFI deal for the future strategic tanker aircraft, says the National Audit Office. As a result, it says it is unable to conclude that the ministry achieved value for money in procuring the aircraft.

 

It warns there could be years of further delays, at a likely extra cost of "several hundreds of millions of pounds", if the MoD decided the aircraft should be "retro-fitted" with flight deck armour and other protective equipment to enable them to operate in Afghanistan.

 

Delays in the planned redevelopment at the RAF base at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire could lead to even more delays, the NAO warns.

 

When it first drew up plans for a new multi-role tanker aircraft, the MoD did not envisage the aircraft flying into such "high threat environments" as Afghanistan, the report notes.

 

The deal with the AirTanker consortium is to provide 14 Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The first is due to enter service in October next year, and the rest of the fleet by 2016. AirTanker's shareholders and subcontractors include EADS, Rolls-Royce, Thales, VT Group and Cobham.

 

The 27-year contract is due to end in 2035 and amounts to £10.5bn, but the overall cost to the MoD is estimated to total £12.3bn, according to the report.

 

Delays have meant the RAF has had to rely increasingly on old and unreliable Tristars and VC10s to carry out air-to-air refuelling and to transport troops to and from Afghanistan. The ministry has had to spend £23.5m replacing flight management systems and cockpit displays on the Tristars.

 

The report criticises the MoD for failing to carry out a "sound evaluation of alternative procurement routes". It says there had been the "assumption" in the ministry that the aircraft would be provided through a private finance deal – thus keeping them off the balance sheet – due to "affordability pressures and the prevailing policy to use PFI wherever possible".

 

Edward Leigh, Conservative chairman of the commons public accounts committee, which oversees the work of the NAO, strongly criticised the use of PFI and said the MoD should have foreseen the aircraft would need to operate in warzones.

 

"By introducing a private finance element to the deal, the MoD managed to turn what should have been a relatively straightforward procurement into a bureaucratic nightmare," he said.

 

"It is hard to believe that, when drawing up the original specification for this tanker and transport aircraft, the MoD didn't envisage that they might have to be used in high-threat areas."

 

Liam Fox, shadow defence secretary, said: "Because the contract was shrouded in secrecy, it is only now that we learn that the planes will not even be fitted with defensive aids to enable them to fly into war zones." He described it as one of the most absurd procurement decisions taken by this Labour government".

 

Bob Ainsworth, defence secretary, yesterday confirmed a further batch of procurement projects, the third such package within 10 days.

 

He said A400M partner nations had reached agreement with Airbus Military for a revised contract for 22 of the military transport aircraft, rather than the 25 ordered initially. The MoD has also signed a £120m contract with BAE Systems to maintain the UK's Hawk T Mk2 aircraft, the Advanced Jet Trainer, and an interim Partnering Agreement with MBDA in the UK to develop future air-launched weapons, known in the MoD as the "complex weapons" programme. In timing denounced by Fox as politically-motivated, the MoD last week announced plans to build armoured vehicles and light tanks for the army in a deal potentially worth £9bn.

 

 

  ⓒ Airbus Photo

 

  ⓒ Airbus Photo

 

  ⓒ Airbus Photo

 

  ⓒ Airbus Image

 

  ⓒ Airbus Image