RUAG Aviation and Patria Aviation team up for F/A-18 support
An Industry Teaming Agreement has been signed between Finland’s Patria Aviation and Switzerland’s RUAG Aviation. The two companies are collaborating to deliver life cycle support for the F/A-18 fleets of the Finnish and Swiss air forces, as well as those of other prospective customers.
The Finnish Ministry of Defence and the Swiss Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports have agreed to study the impacts of the worldwide F/A-18 sundown programmes that will progressively affect the Finnish and Swiss fleets. The Industry Teaming Agreement supports the Finn-Swiss F/A-18 joint Life Cycle planning, which aims to improve cost efficiency in future sustainment as well as information exchange between the two countries and their respective industries.
“The co-operation between Patria and RUAG casts a strong foundation to secure the sustainment of the aging F/A-18 fleets and will utilize both companies’ resources to the maximum benefit of our customers,” says Lassi Matikainen, President of Patria Aviation.
“All countries operating legacy F/A-18 fleets can ultimately benefit from this Teaming Agreement,” states Heinz Scholl, Vice President Military Aviation at RUAG Aviation. “By combining our know-how and experience through joint projects for our respective domestic fleets, we are able to provide better solutions effectively and affordably throughout the service life of F/A-18 jets.”
Supported by armasuisse and the Finnish Air Force, several projects have already been implemented and fit into the scope of the Teaming Agreement. These include a personnel exchange between RUAG Aviation and Patria Aviation in support of the F/A-18 maintenance programme, as well as various strategies for geographically optimising avionics repairs to reduce costs and maximise effectiveness.
For further information
Patria
• Veli-Matti Erkkilä, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Patria Aviation, phone +358 40 869 3338, [email protected]
• Birgitta Selonen, Vice President, Patria Corporate Communications, phone +358 40 869 2043, [email protected]
Patria Aviation is a division of Patria Group which is a trusted provider of defence, security and aviation life cycle support services and technology solutions. Patria is owned by the State of Finland (73.2%) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS N.V.) (26.8 %).
www.patria.fi
RUAG
• Pirmin Berger, Head of Marketing & Communication, RUAG Aviation,
phone +41 79 204 55 61, [email protected]
• Jiri Paukert, Senior Public Relations Manager, RUAG Technology Group,
phone +41 79 758 47 77, [email protected]
RUAG is an international group specialising in aerospace and defence technology. Its head office is in Bern, Switzerland. RUAG’s production facilities are located in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden and the USA.
www.ruag.com
