Yahoo Finance Saab hits out at MoD over AWACS replacement in hard-hitting letter to MPs
Defence company Saab has made a stinging attack on the MoD over its decision to start talks with Boeing about a £2bn purchase of early warning radar jets without holding a competition for the contract.
The Swedish company wrote to the Defence Select Committee citing concerns about the move, questioning military officials’ statements they had looked at rival products to US company Boeing offering and decided it was the “least risky” and quickest route.
Saab was offering its “Erieye” system mounted on an Airbus A330 jet - an aircraft type already in service with the RAF - as an alternative to Boeing’s 737-based E-7 “Wedgetail”.
These aircraft will replace RAF’s existing fleet of AWACS jets - recognisable by the large radar domes mounted on their fuselages - and which have been worn out by heavy use.
In the letter, Saab’s UK boss Andrew Walton said the company’s UK expansion was based on the “expectation” that MoD “procurement methods and decision will reflect the Government’s commitment to fair and transparent free-market competition”.
He said the company had got permission from the Swedish government to share classified data on Erieye with UK defence officials so they could assess it, but claimed this offer was not taken up.
In the letter, published alongside Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s appearance before the committee last week, Mr Walton questioned whether MoD had looked at alternative’s to Boeing.
“We cannot support the assertion Erieye’s performance has been analysed,” Mr Walton wrote. “Without examining classified data it is impossible to understand and judge the performance of the system.”
While Boeing has not built a Wedgetail for five years, Saab said that its system is at the “leading edge of technology” and questioned if there was another reason for picking the US company’s product.
“If unstated political reasons exist for a non-competitive approach to replacing the AWACS then we would be grateful if this could be indicated to us and we will cease marketing in the UK,” Mr Walton wrote.
“Notwithstanding any unknown political factors, we are concerned by the lack of competition and the lack of dialogue and response from the MoD.”
Mr Williamson and military chiefs said worries about risks integrating the Saab system and Airbus aircraft had led them to choose Boeing, which they said was a “proven and operational” products. The Saab-Airbus product was described as a “paper aeroplane” by Air Vice Marshal Richard Knighton.
However, Saab described its system as a “plug-and-play” with little risk, adding that much of the work on it would be carried out in the UK.
Such a damning criticism of the MoD in a letter which has gone public is extremely rare in the defence world.
Industry sources described both Saab and Airbus as “furious” at the MoD’s stance, especially as it follows similar decisions not to run competitions on other contracts.
In the past few years Boeing has been handed massive deals to build maritime reconnaissance aircraft and attack helicopters to the UK.
Boeing also unsuccessfully campaigned to have 300pc import levies imposed on Canadian company Bombardier’s new C-Series airliners sold in the US, arguing they had benefited from state subsidies..
The prospect of such huge tariffs raised doubts over the future of 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland, where large sections of the C-Series are produced.
