Memorandum from Lockheed Martin UK
INTRODUCTION
1. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland,
the Lockheed Martin Corporation employs about 140,000 people worldwide
and is principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology
systems, products and services. Lockheed Martin UK is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, and a leader
in systems integration working on major programmes spanning the
aerospace, defence and civil sectors. Lockheed Martin UK works
with more than 100 business partners in the UK and employs in
the region of 1,700 people at 10 UK sites. The Corporation reported
2006 sales of $39.6 billion.
2. As the designer and manufacturer of the
C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, Lockheed Martin has
provided the mainstay of the Royal Air Force's airlift capability,
both strategically and tactically, for the past 40 years and,
following introduction of the C-130J in the mid-1990s, the RAF
is likely to continue to use the Hercules in support of military
operations until at least 2030. The C-130 has been in continuous
production for over 50 years, and has current and anticipated
orders which should ensure continued production well into the
next decade.
THE STRATEGIC
TRANSPORT REQUIREMENT
3. The rationale for having the capabilities
and structures to conduct expeditionary military operations abroad
in support of the UK's National Security objectives were clearly
stated in both the 1998 Strategic Defence Review and in the 2002
Strategic Defence Review: New Chapter. The requirement to improve
the UK's strategic transport capability to support this objective
was highlighted and plans to acquire additional sea and airlift
capabilities were announced.
THE AIRLIFT
CONTRIBUTION TO
STRATEGIC TRANSPORT
4. With the need to transport rapidly outsize
and very heavy loads over strategic distances the MoD has acquired
four C-17s with a fifth due in service in mid -2008. However,
the bulk of the airlift capability will continue to be provided
by the Hercules fleet of 23 C-130Ks, which are due to be replaced
by the A400M during the next decade, and by 25 C-130Js (currently
24 as one was lost on operations in February this year).
5. In seeking to provide the optimum mix
of capabilities which will meet tactical, strategic and outsize
airlift requirements, it is our understanding that the MoD has
had to take into account many factors such as the availability
of existing assets, international acquisition commitments, the
operating environment, the need for concurrency and, given the
competing MoD funding priorities for other urgent capabilities,
affordability. Current operations show that the fixed wing transport
assets are being very heavily utilised and that operational factors
such as the incorporation of Urgent Operational Requirements,
loss of assets on operations, or damage due to rugged environmental
conditions are placing ever greater demands on the air transport
fleets and on industry. It is within these constraints that a
balance has had to be struck between the need to provide support
to current operations and to plan for the longer term.
HERCULES CONTRIBUTION
TO CURRENT
OPERATIONS
6. The Hercules fleet is being heavily used
on current operations in both the strategic and tactical airlift
roles, with the C-130J, because of its superior performance, as
the preferred in-theatre, tactical transport aircraft for both
logistic supply and in support of special operations. Managing
the use of current assets to ensure maximum availability with
aircraft fit-for-purpose, and planning airlift to optimise the
use of aircraft capabilities and crews by using, for example,
a "hub and spoke" operation with C-17 providing much
of the strategic airlift and the Hercules providing the in-theatre
tactical airlift, are the most significant challenges faced by
MoD and industry.
7. The award of the Hercules Integrated
Operational Support (HIOS) contract in May 2006 to the industrial
team led by Marshall Aerospace with Lockheed Martin and Rolls
Royce as sub-primes in a long term partnering arrangement, has
formed a sound basis for industry to work closely with the MoD
to provide a performance based, cost effective way of managing
the entire Hercules fleet to provide maximum availability to the
front-line. The closer working relationship with both the RAF
and the Hercules IPT and industry has been instrumental in addressing
quickly and efficiently issues which impact badly on the number
of aircraft fit-for-purpose.
8. In support of operations, Lockheed Martin
and Marshall Aerospace have been responding to urgent operational
requirements which when fitted will improve both protection and
survivability of aircraft deployed in theatre. We are also working
with MoD to assess the options for replacing as rapidly as possible
the capability lost in February this year when a C-130J which
was destroyed in Maysan Province in Iraq
HERCULES AND
THE UK INDUSTRIAL
BASE
9. UK Industry and the Lockheed Martin C-130
platform have a long and positive history stretching back over
40 years. In particular, Lockheed Martin has had a very special,
long standing relationship with Marshall Aerospace, who won the
competition for a UK Technical Centre for the C-130 K in 1966.
Since then Marshall Aerospace and Lockheed Martin have worked
together to modify and extend the capabilities regularly of the
C-130 aircraft to meet the changing needs of the MoD. With the
introduction of the C-130J, the relationship expanded through
the creation of an Industrial Support Group of 40 first and second
tier key suppliers who interact regularly both with Lockheed Martin
and with each other to promote their capabilities and to advocate
the benefit of what today we would describe as collaborative working
or partnering.
10 Approximately 20% of every C-130J built
is supplied from UK owned businesses with the supply chain extending
to in excess of 150 suppliers at all tiers including a significant
number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The C-130J shows
how SME's can work with higher tier suppliers and the primes directly
to get their product and service specified as part of the base
line product, something which is strongly advocated in both MoD's
Defence Industrial Strategy and Defence Technology Strategy.
11. The positive UK industrial contribution
to the C-130J program extends beyond the basic flying platform
into ground support, training, simulation and many other areas
that contribute to the UK's Defence Industrial Base. With over
200 of the new C-130J's either delivered or on order the foresight
of UK industry to partner and invest with Lockheed Martin, over
a decade ago, is predicted to continue to provide business base
and market access for many years to come.
10 April 2007
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