Repairs Fleet Aircraft

BAE Systems to Showcase Maritime Capabilities at American Society of Naval ...

SAN DIEGO--( BUSINESS WIRE )--BAE Systems will showcase a range of maritime capabilities for U.S. Navy and other government customers at the 2011 American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) Fleet Maintenance and Modernization Symposium, August 30-31 at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, Calif.

Media representatives attending the ASNE Symposium are invited to visit the BAE Systems booth (#49-50) to learn more about program areas such as:

BAE Systems Ship Repair is a leading non-nuclear ship repair, modernization and conversion company, supporting a full spectrum of commercial and military vessels. With more than 5,000 experienced project managers and highly skilled tradespeople, the company has logged millions of man-hours with proven success in drydock and pierside repairs. With state-of-the-art ship repair craft shops and fabrication facilities, as well as mobile work teams, no job is too big or too small – from massive cruise ships and container vessels to mega-yachts and tugs.

BAE Systems operates six full-service shipyards in Mobile, Ala.; San Francisco and San Diego, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Norfolk, Va.; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The company also has satellite ship repair facilities in Mayport, Fla. and Moss Point, Miss.

BAE Systems Land & Armaments provides design, development, production, through-life support and upgrade of armored combat vehicles, tactical wheeled vehicles, naval guns, missile launchers, artillery systems and munitions, as well as military and law enforcement products. With approximately 16,000 employees worldwide, Land & Armaments is a leading supplier of U.S. combat vehicles with strong niche positions in naval weapons and munitions and providing high-quality protective, survivability and security systems that meet customer needs both now and in the future. Their Weapon Systems division is a leading provider of a wide range of gun systems, munitions, launchers and other major subsystems for surface combatants, submarines and other vessels.

Nimrod safety problems revealed in reluctantly released MoD report ...

By James Jones

A secret report reveals that senior RAF officers knew of serious safety problems with the Nimrod spy plane long before one caught fire and broke up over Afghanistan in 2006, killing the 14-man crew.

The Ministry of Defence ( MoD ) attempted to block the release of the Nimrod Airworthiness Review Team (NART) report which was obtained under freedom of information (FoI) rules. Within days of the FoI request, officials claimed it could not be found, even though it was referred to in the 2009 Haddon-Cave report . The claim that it could not be found was then backed up by other officials on appeal.

Eventually, the NART report was found, but officials said it was too expensive to copy. They finally agreed to release it after an offer was made to pay the costs.

But the MoD then held back the distribution list. When they did release the list, it showed that the most senior RAF officer who was sent the report – which warned that numerous serious “airworthiness hazards” could lead to disaster – was Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup.

Stirrup was chief of defence staff at the time of the 2006 loss of Nimrod XV230, and when the inquiry by lawyer Charles Haddon-Cave into RAF airworthiness problems published its damning conclusions. But Stirrup and other officers responsible for the safety of RAF aircraft at the time of the secret 1998 report escaped censure in the 2009 Haddon-Cave report.

It is now clear that MPs were misled by certain aspects of the Haddon-Cave report, as presented by the secretary of state for defence on 28 November 2009. The report paints a glowing picture of airworthiness in the 1990s and claims that “Airworthiness in the MOD became a casualty of the process of cuts, change, dilution and distraction commenced by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review “.

In fact, Haddon-Cave went out of his way to praise the chief engineers of the period – Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Alcock and Air Marshal Sir Colin Terry – referring to “high calibre, leadership and the long screw-driver approach”, and calling their tenure the “golden period” in airworthiness. He then reprimanded two senior officers, General Sir Sam Cowan and Air Chief Marshal Sir Malcolm Pledger, for allowing the situation to deteriorate on their watch from 2000 to 2006.

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