Tarbes, France, September 15th, 2021 – Daher today announced that its full operational support contract for TBM 700 very fast turboprop aircraft operated under responsibility of the French Ministry for the Armed Forces will be extended by seven years.
This ministry is a Daher reference customer, using the company’s aircraft in liaison and training missions as well as for services covering aircraft and helicopter maintenance and logistics.
The renewed contract involves a fleet that currently consists of 26 TBM aircraft: 23 TBM 700A versions and three TBM 700Bs – all based in mainland France for military air mobility and training missions. Of this total, 15 are for the French Air and Space Force, eight for the country’s army, and three for the DGA defense procurement agency’s flight test department.
“The French Ministry for the Armed Forces is a demanding client that always has pushed us towards excellence, especially in challenging times,” commented Nicolas Chabbert, the Senior Vice President of Daher’s Aircraft Division. “Recently our teams were mobilized to meet needs of the French armed forces, including the Gendarmerie, in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. We are proud to continue our support in operational conditions with the new contract extension, marking its renewal for the fourth time.”
Chabbert noted that French military users benefit from Daher’s 25 years of experience in the aircraft, maintenance and logistics sectors. “Over the course of these successive contracts, we have been able to evolve by combining user experience feedback with our aircraft manufacturer expertise, thereby achieving the operational availability objectives requested by our client,” he concluded.
The 84-month contract renewal is for an expected average activity of 10,900 flight hours annually with the French military’s TBM fleet, and covers the following services:
- Technical and logistical support (central technical assistance, on-site technical assistance, obsolescence management, management of technical facts and documentation, etc.);
- Maintenance of airframes, propellers, engines, parts and installed equipment, as well as performing scheduled inspections;
- Supply of spare parts and specific components necessary for support operations carried out by the military operators.
