KUALA LUMPUR: Airbus has extended its contract with the Ministry of Defence to provide a wide range of support services for the Royal Malaysian Air Force's (RMAF) A400M airlifters.
A statement issued by Airbus said the agreement was signed on Wednesday at the Defence Services Asia 2018 exhibition here.
This contract would extend an existing services deal between Airbus and MinDef.
Malaysia is the first export customer for the A400M and the RMAF received its fourth aircraft in 2017.
Under the contract, Airbus will continue to provide performance-based services including material support, engineering services, flight operations and maintenance support for the RMAF A400Ms. Airbus will work with the local industry to
deliver these services.
The agreement also covers additional spare parts and ground equipment, as well as training courses, to support A400M air-to-air refuelling operations.
Airbus personnel will continue to be deployed at RMAF No 22 squadron at the Subang Air Base to support the service. However, their numbers will gradually reduce as RMAF officers and other locally-hired personnel take over the work.
Airbus defence and space's head of military aircraft services Stephan Miegel said: “The RMAF A400M fleet has been achieving excellent aircraft availability, which is testament to the effectiveness of the current services contract.
“We are strongly focused on continuing to build the RMAF’s expertise on the A400M and transferring the support activity to the air force itself and the local workforce.”
In addition to the A400Ms, over 100 Airbus civil and military helicopters are in service in Malaysia.
Airbus has also secured orders for more than 720 passenger and cargo aircraft from Malaysian customers.
It also said it has developed strong industrial partnerships in the country, and its activities are worth US$400mil per year for Malaysia’s economy and sustain over 4,000 local jobs.
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