Shock as Red Arrows replacement aircraft company goes into Administration.

Doug Maclean - Aviation Editor

Exactly one year ago today on May 16th 2025 Ayrshire Daily News broke the story about the AERALIS company looking to build the Red Arrows replacement jet at Prestwick. It was a major boost for the aviation industry in Scotland creating 600 jobs and decades of work.

AERALIS had an innovative and highly efficient plan to use well known  companies with industry proven major parts like engines, undercarriages and ejection seats blended with their modern designed cockpit and flexible wing options.

The other highly unusual part of the AERALIS bid was that the UK taxpayer would not pay a penny until aircraft were actually ordered.

The AERALIS bid was 100% privately funded. No taxpayer money was being asked for in advance.

All seemed set fair and at last year’s Ayrshow in September AERALIS and Prestwick airport signed a letter of agreement to proceed with their plans to identify a specific site and prepare the plans for building an aircraft assembly plant. My understanding is that the building was to be located behind the hangar used by HM Coastguard and Bristow Helicopters.

Alan Gemmell MP for Ayrshire Central and Lord John Reid, former Labour Defence Secretary, were in attendance. Both were very positive that AERALIS were an excellent company and the future at Prestwick could be very bright.

Up to 600 jobs were likely in aircraft assembly and Prestwick was planned as the world wide centre for AERALIS jet maintenance.

However the UK Government seemed incapable of making decisions. Promised dates for the UK Strategic Defence Review were not met. For months it was known that the Review was on the Prime Minister’s desk.   

Finally it was published on June 2nd 2025 and that indicated that the UK would favour a British built training jet the Red Arrows replacement was likely to be in the first orders as their current Hawk jets will reach their airframe expiry in 2031 or 2032.

AERALIS are the only all British company bidding to build the Hawk replacement so it seemed only a matter of time before they were recognised as being the favoured construction company. As soon as that happened the company’s backers would release more capital and the project would ramp up towards building aircraft.

But the Prime Minister has become known for his timidity in taking decisions. As he prevaricated about making a final decision the Civil Service and Ministry of Defence began to make it quietly known that they favoured the Boeing - Saab T-7 Red Hawk.

British Aerospace said they would build the UK version at Warton, Lancashire. That “build” will contain very few British components and the aircraft will simply be assembled from kits sent from Boeing.

Very sadly for Scotland there would be almost no Scottish work or workers involved.

The Red Hawk is actually a very bad proposal for the Red Arrows replacement. It is a heavy after burning, supersonic capable aircraft with limited range. Industry insiders are already predicting that the Red Hawk will be an expensive failure and that the UK may have to turn to another non UK aircraft on offer.

The Leonardo M-345 / 6 comes from a 30 year old training jet originally designed in Russia and financed by Italy. President Putin would be delighted if the UK’s premier aerobic aircraft could be claimed as Russian designed.

And what of AERALIS ? it was with great regret and frustration that the UK’s unique training jet project was so shabbily treated by the UK Government and Civil Service.

I had the professional pleasure of meeting a number of AERALIS Directors in the last year. They explained a lot about their project and why Prestwick was such a suitable location for their jet assembly and world wide maintenance project

However it was an open secret that the French Government and Air Force could see huge potential for world wide sales. They had sent teams of engineers to meet AERALIS at trade shows where the UK would send one single RAF officer.

It is quite feasible that the remains of AERALIS could be bought up by France and the whole project moved to somewhere like Toulouse. It’s sad to say that the UK’s loss can be France’s gain. Meanwhile Scotland misses out again on major aviation projects and the 600 potential Prestwick jobs and decades of work could go to France.

Watch this space and let’s see how my predictions develop.