Defence sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised Ascent (a 50:50 joint venture between Babcock and Lockheed Martin) on its £1.1bn deal under the overarching United Kingdom Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) contract with the Ministry of Defence.
The deal comprises contracts with:
- Airbus to deliver 32 training helicopters (29 H135s and 3 H145s) along with through life support
- Lockheed Martin and Babcock to deliver the ground based training equipment and infrastructure to support the delivery of the rotary wing training capability
The award of the contracts will safeguard the future of the UK military’s rotary wing training and pave the way for the design and delivery of a new rotary wing training service.
Burges Salmon put in place a team of Defence sector lawyers comprising a range of specialisms from across the firm including projects, employment, pensions, real estate, tax, commercial and corporate. The core Project Team included Marcus Walters, Rory Trust and trainee solicitors Hannah Craig and Charlotte Holgate. The cross departmental team was led by Defence sector partners Matt Ramus and Keith Beattie.
Ascent was appointed as the Ministry of Defence’s training service partner in 2008 and is responsible for providing flying training for Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps future aircrew.
This latest announcement follows the news in February 2016 of the Burges Salmon team advising Ascent on the financial close of the £1.1 billion Fixed Wing package of UKMFTS.