Defence Business: MRTT delivery hold up | ADM Apr 2011
Julian Kerr | Avalon
Significant contractual difficulties are holding up delivery of the first two of the five Airbus Military KC-30A multi-role tanker transports (MRTTs) destined for the RAAF.
The $1.4 billion contract to replace the RAAF’s five Boeing 707 tanker/transports is more than two years behind schedule, and continues to figure on the government’s list of Projects of Concern.
Damien Allard, marketing development manager multi-role tanker transport and Airbus derivatives at Airbus Military, said at Avalon that the first two MRTTS had been ready for delivery in January but this had been postponed pending the completion of contractual negotiations.
He expected these discussions to be completed shortly, and said Airbus Military anticipated delivering four of the five KC-30As during early 2011.
However, well-informed sources said that major differences on contractual issues remained between the company and the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO).
Airbus Military chief executive officer Domingo Urena-Raso is understood to have been involved in negotiations with senior DMO executives for several days in late February, with little progress made.
On 2 March Urena-Raso met with the Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Mark Binskin and later the same day he met with defence materiel minister Jason Clare in Canberra. Clare’s office said the Minister had impressed on the Airbus Military CEO “the importance of doing everything necessary to bring this important capability on track”.
According to the sources, the DMO is not satisfied that technical publications requirements have been met. More importantly, officials are understood to be unhappy with the size of the envelope within which the air-to-air refuelling boom moves when extended.
On 19 January, a third KC-30A intended for the RAAF suffered the partial loss of its refuelling boom over the Atlantic ocean during a refuelling exercise with a Portuguese air force F-16. The KC-30A was being flown by Airbus Military and no Australian personnel were aboard. Allard said the incident was still under investigation, but replacing the damaged boom would not be a complex exercise. He did not comment on any software issues that might be involved.
Although yet to be officially confirmed, it is understood that the technical certification of the KC-30A has been suspended by the Spanish military certification agency ITNA pending completion of its review of the boom incident.