BAE wins £2.1bn deal to support Typhoon jets

10 year agreement seeks to reinvest £500 million into new capabilities for multi-role fighter aircraft

BAE Systems has won a £2.1 billion deal to provide support and maintenance for the RAF’s fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons until 2026.

The agreement, which is expected to be signed soon, will combine contracts with different suppliers from across Europe into a single programme, including a joint avionics solution with Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

The latest “Typhoon Total Availability Enterprise Agreement” succeeds a previous seven year support contract for the Typhoons BAE Systems provided.

BAE Systems said that the partnership will aim to reduce the costs of operating the fleet at RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth bases by more than a third and could see more than £500 million of savings reinvested to develop new capabilities for the aircraft.

Chris Boardman, managing director of BAE Systems Military Air and Information, said: “Combining support arrangements into one programme will help to increase reliability and availability of the fleet, whilst making it cheaper to support. The efficiency savings generated will enable new capabilities to be developed for the Typhoon fleet."

The UK has 137 Typhoons in service, mainly split between the RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth bases for the UK’s Quick Reaction Alert, to intercept unauthorised incursion into the UK’s airspace. 

Philip Dunne, minister for defence procurement, added: “This will be an innovative support arrangement for our Typhoon aircraft and will help ensure Typhoon continues to meet the RAF’s operational requirements.”