{"id":49402,"date":"2014-10-29T09:44:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=9e3035a8490b2d7ebd2e2da5d764185e"},"modified":"2014-10-29T09:44:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T09:44:00","slug":"news-story-1-5-billion-uk-military-air-traffic-management-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=49402","title":{"rendered":"News story: \u00a31.5 billion UK military air traffic management deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

AQUILA, a joint venture between Thales and NATS, has been awarded the \u00a31.5 billion contract, which is expected to save the taxpayer up to \u00a31 billion over the next 22 years.<\/p>\n

This includes a \u00a3400 million investment in advanced surveillance radars and a wide range of sophisticated equipment such as navigation aids and radios.<\/p>\n

Starting next year, the programme will see approximately 70 contracts merged into one and will cover the operation of more than 60 MOD<\/abbr> sites in the UK and overseas, including in Cyprus, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands and Ascension Island. <\/p>\n

\n
\"Inside<\/div>
Inside the air traffic control tower at RAF Brize Norton [Picture: Paul Crouch, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The programme, known as Marshall, will deliver a long-term, modern and reliable military air traffic management (ATM<\/abbr>) service that will allow aircraft to operate safely in all weathers.<\/p>\n

Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, Philip Dunne, said:<\/p>\n

\n

Enabling our military aircraft to continue to operate as safely and efficiently as possible is absolutely vital.<\/p>\n

This significant investment will ensure we have an advanced and secure service at MOD<\/abbr> sites in the UK and abroad, and will support deployed UK and coalition forces worldwide.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"Minister<\/div>
Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, Philip Dunne at today’s announcement of the new new air traffic management system at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London [Picture: Thales]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He continued:<\/p>\n

\n

This deal also represents excellent value for money for the taxpayer, securing up to \u00a31 billion of savings when compared to the myriad of contracts it replaces.<\/p>\n

This is an excellent example of our determination to drive down costs while fully meeting the needs of the armed forces.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

AQUILA will be contracted to supply, maintain and install new and updated ATM<\/abbr> equipment and train both maintainers and operators. <\/p>\n

Over the life of the contract \u2013 and when compared with current practices \u2013 Marshall will deliver significant savings through new equipment and efficiencies and bring the MOD<\/abbr> fully up to date with the latest advances in technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A MOD contract to update and sustain military air traffic management \u2013 expected to save the taxpayer up to \u00a31 billion \u2013 has been agreed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49446,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49402\/revisions\/49446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}