A400M UK Medium Term Aircraft In-Service Support Contract Extension UK7 Contract Details Notice

It is considered that this contract can be awarded in accordance with the justification set out in paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 to the Procurement Act 2023 where competition is absence for technical reasons.

AMSL hold the unique position of being the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Design Authority (DA) for the A400M aircraft, as well as the provider of common in-service support under the Global Support Step (GSS) arrangement for benefit of all partner nations who co-operated in procuring the design, development and manufacture of the A400M aircraft. In order to provide the required national in-service support services there

is specific access, technical know-how and specific interoperability with the GSS arrangement which could only be provided by AMSL.

In addition, performance of the national in-service support services is subject to Maintenance Approved Organisation Scheme (MAOS) approval, with all Maintenance Organisations conducting maintenance or repair on UK military registered aircraft required to hold MRP Part 145 approval in accordance with Military Aviation Authority (MAA) Regulatory Article (RA) 4800 series. AMSL as the OEM and DA is uniquely positioned to

manage and sustain compliance with the complex regulatory regime applicable to the A400M programme to ensure coherence and seamless integration between the multiple regulated organisational approvals (including the Co-Ordinating Design Organisation, Approved Maintenance Organisation, Contractor Flying Approved Organisation and Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation) to deliver a safe and effective

enterprise.

Further the A400M aircraft is yet to attain full military operating capability, with AMSL iteratively upgrading the capability and delivering a concurrent retrofit programme. As a result, the build standard of the A400M aircraft remains subject to substantial change and consequentially the platform and its components, design and proven performance remain Page 5 to 6 at a relatively early stage of maturity. As such it is impractical to contract national in service support services with another economic operator and would pose intolerable risk

to the capability, effectiveness, readiness and safety of the A400M Atlas aircraft.

In summary, AMSL are the only economic operator with the in-depth knowledge, experience and technical know-how to perform the services, whilst ensuring regulatory compliance, satisfaction of interoperability and airworthiness requirements, and delivering the availability for deployment of military operational aircraft that meet the needs of Defence.