LONDON: BAE Systems, the UK’s largest arms manufacturer, has ended its support for a fleet of aircraft delivering aid to a number of the world’s poorest states, including Somalia and South Sudan.
The company withdrew the airworthiness license of its Advanced Turbo-Prop commercial aircraft with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, telling the EU Aviation Safety Agency it was “no longer produced” and that, to the company’s knowledge, “only (a) few aircraft are being operated.”
That means that the last known operator of the ATP, Kenyan air-cargo firm EnComm Aviation, will have to ground its fleet.
This comes during a year of record profits for BAE, totaling more than £3 billion ($3.99 billion), linked in part to higher defense spending related to Israel’s war in Gaza and the conflict in Ukraine. EnComm Aviation specializes in running contracts for humanitarian aid programs, one of which, run by the United Nation’s World Food Program, flies aid to 12 locations in Somalia.
According to the UN, 4.6 million people in the country face famine, and 1.8 million children aged under 5 suffer from malnutrition. According to documents seen by The Guardian newspaper, the contract between EnComm and the WFP in Somalia, scheduled to run until August 2026, has now been cancelled.
