Air Command Secretariat
Spitfire Block
Headquarters Air Command
Royal Air Force
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP14 4UE
Ref. 2019/01513/01514/1515/1516
Mr R Toland
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
4 March 2019
Dear Mr Toland,
Thank you for your four e-mails of 5 February 2019 about the Hawk T1. The information you
have requested is shown below:
I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. A search for the information has now been completed within the
Ministry of Defence and I can confirm that some information within the scope of your
request is held.
When a public authority is estimating whether the appropriate cost limit of complying with
requests is likely to be exceeded, it can include the costs of complying with two or more
requests if the conditions laid out in regulation 5 of the Fees Regulations can be satisfied.
Those require the requests to be made by one person; made for similar information; and
received by the public authority within any period of 60 consecutive working days.
Between the four requests you requested detailed information regarding the Hawk T1
planned aircraft flying hours by unit and individual aircraft military aviation capability, the
future of specific units and personnel management issues relating to those units.
Consequently, your requests have been aggregated under the terms of regulation 5 of the
Fees Regulations. In total there are over 40 parts of your request:
1. The MOD’s position with regard to any decision to extend 736 NAS operating the
Hawk TM1 in the Air Support Role for an additional 18 months (iro November 2021
2. TUPE considerations relating to the contractor staff (Babcock)
3. TUPE considerations relating to FTRS aircrew
4. Details of any IAC submission placed, including option submitted in late 2018
5. Any findings
6. Any recommendations
7. Any decisions
8. What would be the effect if any would an extension of 736 NAS have on the Forward
Available Fleet (FAF) for 100 Sqn from April 2020
9. What is the risk to the FAF in FY26/27 due to depth fleet capacity to support
requirements
10. What is the planned depth phase flow by aircraft serial numbers
11. What is the intended use across the Hawk Tmk1 community
12. What are the numbers of aircraft at unit level out until FY26/27 (list units)
13. What is the latest position on the current HIOS contract with BAE Systems with
regard to Hawk Tmk1 support
14. What is the position for the HIOS contract for the period April 2020 until the planned
out of service date of 2027
15. All non-commercial in confidence details
16. Planned maintenance phase flows by aircraft serial number
17. Airframe hours of all remaining aircraft against serial number
18. What is the projected end of fatigue life for each airframe
19. What is the funded Annual Flying Task (AFT) position for Hawk Tmk1 for 736 NAS
for each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
20. What is the funded annual Flying task (AFT) position for Hawk Tmk1 for 100 Sqn for
each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
21. What is the funded annual Flying task (AFT) position for Hawk Tmk1 for the Red
Arrows for each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
22. What is the AFT for 736 NAS for Close Air Support for each year until the end of
FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
23. What is the AFT for 736 NAS for Air-to-Air adversary training for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
24. What is the AFT for 736 NAS for Refresher/conversion training for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
25. What is the AFT for 736 NAS for Crew Continuation training for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
26. What is the AFT for 736 NAS for Air Exercise Programme for each year until the end
of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
27. What is the AFT for 736 NAS for Defence Engagement
28. What is the AFT for 736 NAS Sqn for Advanced Flying Training for 6 students per
year for each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
29. What is the AFT for 736 NAS Sqn for Maritime Trials for each year until the end of
FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
30. What is the AFT for 736 NAS Sqn for Adversary and Fighter Control Training for
each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
31. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Close Air Support for each year until the end of
FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
32. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Air-to-Air adversary training for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
33. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Refresher/conversion training for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
34. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Crew Continuation training for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
35. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Air Exercise Programme for each year until the end
of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
36. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Defence Engagement for each year until the end of
FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
37. What is the AFT for 100 Sqn for Advanced Flying Training for 6 students per year for
each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
38. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Close Air Support for each year until the end
of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
39. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Air-to-Air adversary training for each year
until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
40. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Refresher/conversion training for each year
until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
41. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Crew Continuation training for each year
until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier for each year until the end of
FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
42. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Air Exercise Programme for each year until
the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
43. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Defence Engagement for each year until the
end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
44. What is the AFT for The Red Arrows for Advanced Flying Training for 6 students per
year for each year until the end of FY26/27 or until disbandment if earlier
Section 12 of the FOI Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for
information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which
for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending 3.5 working days in determining whether the department holds the information,
locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
Across your 40 requests, a conservative estimate is that in order to gather all the
information within scope of your requests is likely to exceed 100 hours and is likely to cost
the Department in the region of £2,500. This is far in excess of the £600 cost limit.
Consequently, I am withholding the information under Section 12 of the FOI Act.
Section 16 of the FOIA requires a public authority to offer advice and assistance on how to
reduce or refine a request to bring the cost of compliance under the limit by narrowing or
limiting its scope. In this instance, due to the range and volume of recorded information that
you have requested, it is difficult to provide detailed advice. However, there are a range of
requests above, that individually may only require limited and specific recorded information,
which may likely be within the cost limit
if asked in isolation. I would suggest that you limit
your request to the Annual Flying Task (AFT) for given units for the programmed period to
2020. It may further help you that we only hold the AFT for the whole unit. It is not further
broken down into flying task categories like crew continuation or refresher conversion. That
is decided on a day to day basis by individual unit commanders based on task
requirements.
If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance.
If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response,
you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights
Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail
CIO-
xxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made
within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly
to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate
your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely
Paul Webb
Secretariat 3a1
Air Command