New engine contract for Sea Kings
22 Dec 08
The delivery and upkeep of engines for Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters has been guaranteed for the next ten years with the award of a £258 million contract to Rolls-Royce Defence Aerospace.
A Royal Navy Air Early Warning Sea King helicopter (Archive picture)
[Picture: POA (Phot) Bernie Petterson]
The ten year agreement will provide a guaranteed delivery of the Gnome turboshaft engines for the Sea King fleet and covers engine support including the repair and overhaul of engines, provision of spares as well as delivery to MOD sites.
This contract will improve support to a helicopter which is performing a vital role on operations in Afghanistan.
Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies, said:
"The Sea Kings are an integral part of the UK Support Helicopter Force and are delivering a sterling effort in current operations in Afghanistan as well as in its high profile Search and Rescue tasks within the UK. This new support contract will help to ensure that the aircraft is always available to carry out the crucial roles with which it is tasked."
The contract will be managed at the MOD's Defence Equipment and Support site at Yeovilton, Somerset and Rolls-Royce Bristol. The work will be carried out at Rolls-Royce facilities in Ansty, Coventry and Germany with subcontractors facilities embedded within the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.
A Sea King Mk4 from 845 Naval Air Squadron (Archive picture)
[Picture: CPOA (Phot) Kev Preece]
Pete Worrall, Director General Helicopters in the MOD's Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation, said:
"This contract offers quantifiable benefits in both financial and availability terms for the Sea King fleet. We look forward to continued close working with our industry partner Rolls Royce to deliver a reliable product to the front line."
Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force Sea Kings are currently engaged on operations in Afghanistan, and have recently been fitted with advanced new rotor blades bringing about considerably improved performance in the adverse environmental conditions.
The support contract for the Sea King engines builds on existing MOD measures which have boosted the capacity of our helicopter fleet on operations by 60 per cent. Last week MOD announced a significant increase in helicopter capacity in Afghanistan including a £70 million investment to upgrade 12 Lynx Mark 9 helicopters with new engines, and plans to redeploy Merlin helicopters from Iraq to Afghanistan next year, making significantly more aircraft and flying hours available to commanders.
Sea King helicopters are a key workhorse of the UK Armed Forces employed for a variety of tasks, often in harsh and demanding environments. The Sea King provides battlefield helicopter support to the Commando Force (Mk 4); Search and Rescue (Mk3/3a and Mk5) and airborne surveillance and control (Mk7). Each aircraft is powered by two R-R Gnome engines.
The Sea King UK operating bases are RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, RNAS Prestwick near Glasgow, Royal Marine Base Chivenor in Devon, RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, RAF Valley on Anglesey, RAF Leconfield on Humberside, RAF Wattisham in Suffolk and RAF Lossiemouth in Moray. A Sea King is also permanently based in the Falkland Islands.