The United Kingdom recently awarded an approximately 10 year, $2.4 billion contract to Bristol Group’s [BRS] U.K. affiliate Bristow Helicopters Ltd., to provide search and rescue (SAR) services previously provided by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
The new service procured by the Department for Transport (DfT) replaces the military personnel using Sea King helicopters from eight bases and a civilian helicopter service under contract to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) from four bases.
The service, revealed by Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin, will operate under a contract similar to the existing MCA contract and will run for seven to 10 years and managed by the MCA.
Bristow Group President and CEO William Chiles said, “We are honored that our affiliate Bristow Helicopters was selected by the Department for Transport to provide this vital service for the people of the United Kingdom. This award will employ 22 of the world’s most technologically advanced and safest helicopters which will dramatically improve the capability to save lives and significantly reduce the U.K. government’s costs for the next decade.
The DfT will operate a mixed helicopter fleet from 10 locations around the United Kingdom. Eleven Sikorsky [UTX] S92 helicopters and 11of Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland AW189 helicopters will operate at existing and new locations.
All bases will be operational 24 hours a day. The locations are strategically placed near areas with high SAR incident rates and will help ensure maximum operational cover across the country while reducing transit times to incidents.
Bristow Helicopters Ltd and the Ministry of Defense also agreed to a “managed transition” to allow service personnel who want to continue to work in SAR to do it without risking current military service.
The new UK SAR service will become operational during a phased transition from 2015-2017, during which the military SAR service will be drawn down. That drawdown will take place between the spring of 2015 and early 2016, and allow current SAR Sea Kings to be retired from service. MCA’s four bases will transition to the new service in 2017 and by the summer of 2017 the new contractor will be fully operational at all 10 bases.
In early 2012, Bristow Helicopters was awarded a Gap SAR services contract that begins in July, using four of the latest technology S-92 helicopters based in Scotland at Stornoway and Sumburgh. The Gap SAR contract is expected to run for about four years the two bases transition to the new long-term contract just announced.
Houston-based Bristow Group affiliates currently operate similar SAR services in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Dutch Antilles, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and Trinidad, said Mike Imlach, Bristow Helicopters managing director. Bristow Helicopters has performed SAR work for more than 36 years in the United Kingdom.