RAF accused over multi-billion Voyager contract

[mhm]

The RAF may be paying billions of pounds too much for its new, air-to-air refuelling Voyager aircraft, the BBC has discovered.

Contracts seen by Newsnight suggest the 14 planes could be purchased for £50m each instead of the £150m each paid as part of a £10bn leasing agreement.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond defended the contract.

But he added: "I will go back to the MoD and look personally at what is being done around this PFI contract."

The Voyager contract is the biggest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) signed by the government and one which both Labour and the current coalition have signed off despite warnings from notable military and political figures.

The Voyager planes are designed and made by Air Tanker - a consortium of blue-chip engineering giants such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Cobham, Thales and Babcock.

In their simplest form, they are standard Airbus A330-200s which have been fitted with refuelling pods in each wing and tail.

Air Tanker says the purchasing cost of each aircraft is £152m, but Newsnight has discovered that the MoD could have acquired these aircraft for a fraction of the list price.
Full Story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18020809

[viking9]

The RAF isn't paying for them. The British taxpayers are.