2022 was the busiest ever year for the fleet's operations and as the tempo ramped up the BAE Systems' teams back at base were tasked with ensuring the crews had enough serviceable jets at their disposal to fulfil this important mission.
Jez Milne, Typhoon Support Delivery Director who heads this mission, said that because it was an unprecedented year in terms of the number of hours flown the support drumbeat had to quickly match it.
He explained: “Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the RAF came to us and said we want to increase their flying rate by at least 50%. So we had to increase our servicing requirements by at least 50% which was a significant challenge.”
Under the Typhoon Total Availability Enterprise (TyTAN), BAE Systems ensures the availability of the RAF's Typhoon fleet whilst delivering hundreds of millions of pounds of savings which have been re-invested to new capabilities on the aircraft.
Jez says his team took a number of steps to make sure the RAF could meet its target in the face of the new global reality. This included accelerating the time for clearances and bringing forward a radar software programme by two years. Within weeks they managed to add an additional 12,000 flying hours into the RAF’s bank.
Jez says: “Collectively, we fuelled the fight for them - and allowed the air force to deliver what it needs to do. It was all about operational responsiveness and our teams delivered.”
A total of 21,112 hours were accumulated across the entire fleet within the calendar year.
RAF Typhoon programme director Group Captain Matt D’Aubyn praised the effort saying: “The number of aircraft on ground has been driven down, through resilience and flexibility work on spares and in the supply chain.”
Under the TyTAN availability contract, BAE Systems enables a minimum of 179,000 flying hours by the RAF’s Typhoon force over the term of the 10-year deal. This means the company oversees fleet management and conducts maintenance tasks on 30-40 aircraft per year, with each taking between three and nine months.