FARNBOROUGH, England —The Royal Netherlands Air Force on July 14 made a deal with Boeing for sustainment and spare parts to the service’s AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
The performance-based logistics contract will provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services to the Air Force’s fleet of Apaches and Chinooks, which includes 28 AH-64Ds, 11 CH-47Ds and six CH-47Fs. It also covers some upfront buys of materials, obsolescence support for the Apache fleet and a Chinook modification program to transition the CH-47Ds to "F" models, Boeing said in a statement.
The company has not disclosed the total projected value of the agreement, which was signed by Turbo Sjogren, Boeing’s vice president of international global sales, and Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Dennis Luyt at the Royal International Air Tattoo.
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“The strategic cooperation between the Royal Netherlands Air Force and Boeing is very important, and with the combined helicopter support [contract] from Boeing we enter into a next phase,” Luyt said in a statement. “In this phase we need to stretch ourselves as a joint team to be innovative to meet the demanding requirements of adequate and affordable support for the transition into a fifth generation Royal Netherlands Air Force with current, upgraded and new Boeing helicopters being part of it.”
Boeing formed its global services business last year to help optimize its sustainment services across all of its business areas. Sjogren told reporters Saturday that the division had a good start and is still growing and looking for opportunities.
“Frankly, we think there’s a lot of headroom in this area. Our services business is an area that obviously we have invested in and we continue to invest,” he said. “We’re still finding those areas where we can bring that synergy to bear. But it has, however, been a very strong first year. We’re looking for growth going forward.”
Valerie Insinna is Defense News' air warfare reporter. She previously worked the Navy/congressional beats for Defense Daily, which followed almost three years as a staff writer for National Defense Magazine. Prior to that, she worked as an editorial assistant for the Tokyo Shimbun’s Washington bureau.
