The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a £27m, 10-year contract with supplier Thales for the provision of a system to manage flight passenger and cargo bookings.

The ‘Swift2Move’ application will go live by summer 2009, and will provide real time access to flight check-in data and aircraft loadsheet calculations at all RAF locations across the world.

The system will be based on commercial applications, according to air vice-marshal Matthew Wiles, director general joint supply chain in the Defence Equipment & Support Organisation (DE&S).

"We will have an application that combines an easy to use system from the commercial world with the robustness and security needed for operating in a military environment,” he said.

Thales has partnered with sub-contractors Fujitsu Services and Mastek to develop a number of software packages, including aircraft scheduling and passenger and freight management systems and aircraft weight and balance calculators.

Swift2Move will be one of the first major applications to be hosted over the MoD’s Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) – a secure military communication network.