The UK government continues to invest in its global overseas military installations, this time in its entirety Cyprus estate.
It was allocated under DIO’s Overseas Prime Contracts (OPC) program – which launched this time last year, starting with a seven-year £155m ($188.8m) investment in Gibraltar estate – an additional £256 million will be awarded to Mitie Defense Limited for maintenance, repairs and servicing of UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) bases in Cyprus.
This is the second OPC contract to be issued. It covers every part of the Ministry of Development’s property in Cyprus, including RAF Akrotiri, Episkopi, Dekelia, Agios Nikolaos, Troodos, Bloodhound Camp and Radio Sonde, as well as Cypriot companies within the supply chain.
Further facility management contracts in other locations will follow, including Germany and wider Europe, Cyprus Soft FM and the Falkland Islands and Ascension Islands.
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The next contract to be awarded under the OPC program in the coming months will be Cyprus Soft Facilities Management. The final contract under the program will be the South Atlantic Islands in the summer of 2024.
The contract is for an initial period of seven years and aims to be more flexible and responsive to the needs of service staff and staff in Cyprus.
“This will allow them to focus on their work knowing they have a secure and resilient infrastructure to work from,” Press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was transferred.
Maintaining a worldwide military presence by Cyprus
The demand for adequate military infrastructure is there. now more than ever, as the geopolitical scene falls back into a multipolar environment.
It is located in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Cyprus is off the coast of the Levant, where the Hamas-Israel conflict has recently entered what the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently characterized, “the second stage of the war”.
This government investment also comes a day after the Foreign Office announced that the Royal Air Force would deliver humanitarian aid to Egypt to support civilians in Gaza.
In addition, the British military presence in Cyprus mimics the military deterrence the US is demonstrating with its two Carrier Strike Groups in the region.
Enhancing Britain’s geostrategic advantages elsewhere
Just seven months earlier, DIO also allocated £6.96 million to extend the life of the runways and taxiways at Mount Pleasant Airport Complex in Falkland Islands.
The refurbishment work included repainting the runway and taxiway markings with reflective paint, replacing the aerodrome markings with new compatible backlit units and coating the runway tarmac with a layer of tar. This protective layer is expected to extend the life of the treated surfaces until they can be fully resurfaced in the coming years.
The British government has already identified the new “unsettled and contested world” today in its own Built-in review refresh on March; This gives importance to maintaining its global military infrastructure.
A few months later, at Defense Administration paper renewalthe government said it would build “an estate that is both people- and military-capable, more resilient, better aligned with the future operating environment and that connects our domestic and overseas estates”.
Additional reporting by Harry McNeill.
Read the original at Defence247.gr
