UK awards final Tornado support contract

The United Kingdom Royal Air Force's (RAF's) Panavia Tornado GR.4 strike aircraft fleet will receive continued support until their retirement from service under a new contract with BAE Systems.
Awarded by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, the contract will provide for a further three years of support for the remainder of the Tornado fleet, until their currently planned retirement in 2019.
The contract is an extension to the decade long Availability Transformation: Tornado Aircraft Contract (ATTAC), awarded in 2006 and due to expire in 2016.
The original ATTAC contract,was designed to both increase the availability rate of the aircraft and decrease costs.
The RAF's Tornado GR.4 aircraft are currently based at RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Marham, and are set to be replaced by the F-35B. As recently as 2010 the Tornado fleet was set to remain in service until 2025, although this has since been brought forward to 2021, and latterly 2019 as the UK MoD looks to find cost saving measures.
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