Rolls-Royce Plc was awarded contract worth £79 million (or roughly $112.5 million) by the U.K. Ministry of Defence to provide support for Adour engines that power the Hawk jet trainer aircraft, including those flown by the Royal Air Force precision flight squadron, the Red Arrows. The five-year MissionCare® contract provides availability-based support for two variants of the Adour engine in service for British fighter jets: The Mk951 powers the BAE Systems Hawk TMk2 advanced jet trainer, used in the Fast jet Pilot stream for the U.K. Military Flying Training System (MFTS); and the Adour Mk151, which powers Hawk TMk1 aircraft used in various training roles by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
The BAE Systems Hawk is a single-engine jet aircraft developed more than 40 years ago by Hawker Siddely and manufactured now by its successor firm, used mainly in a training capacity by the RAF, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Indian Air Force.
The British jets are outfitted with the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour two-shaft low bypass turbofan aircraft engine developed by Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited, a 50-50 joint subsidiary of Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca, a Snecma Group company.
The terms of the contract call for Rolls-Royce to provide support for all of the U.K. defense forces’ main operating bases through its field service representatives based out of RAF Valley, a Royal Air Force base in Wales. Repair and overhaul activities will be carried out at Rolls-Royce centers in Bristol, England, and Inchinnan, Scotland.
“This MissionCare contract will enable us to maximize the number of engines available to power training missions, driving higher levels of customer capability,” explained Chris Cholerton, president of Rolls-Royce, Defence. “The solution was developed in a partnered approach between Rolls-Royce and the U.K. Ministry of Defence, ensuring that we meet the operational needs of the training fleet while providing value for money for the UK.”
