Defence sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised Ascent on the financial close of the £1.1 billion Fixed Wing package of the United Kingdom Military Flying Training System.
Ascent was appointed as the Ministry of Defence’s training service partner in 2008 and is responsible for providing flying training for Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps future aircrew.
The Fixed Wing package comprises the procurement, delivery and maintenance of three new fleets of fixed wing training aircraft and related infrastructure under a contract worth approximately £500 million between Ascent and Affinity. The package also includes the award of contracts with Babcock and Lockheed Martin for the provision of ground based training equipment and infrastructure to support the delivery of the fixed wing training capability, and two separate project financings.
Burges Salmon put in place a cross-firm team, which was led by Defence sector partner Keith Beattie and also included senior associate Marcus Walters, trainee solicitor Hannah Craig and partners Matthew Ramus, Adrian Martin and Michael Hayles.