15th Dec 2008 07:00
15 December 2008
Ref: 0270
COBHAM HELICOPTER JOINT VENTURE SECURES CONTRACT WORTH £29M
Cobham plc ('Cobham') announces that its Cobham Aviation Services joint venture, FB Heliservices (FBH), has been awarded a £29 million contract from the UK Ministry of Defence.
The contract extends the Company's existing Belize and Brunei contracts until 31 March 2013 and the Middle Wallop training contract until 31 March 2012. Options then enable the contract to be further extended until 2015.
Under the new contract, FB Heliservices will provide a total of eight COMR (Civil Owned Military Registered) Bell 212HP helicopters; three in Belize, three in Brunei and two at Middle Wallop, together with engineering support at all bases and aircrew at Middle Wallop as necessary.
Allan Cook, Cobham's Chief Executive, commented:
"Following the award of the new contract for British Forces Cyprus earlier this year, this award underpins the FBH business well into the foreseeable future and further strengthens our position in the helicopter service market."
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ENQUIRIES
Cobham plc
Allan Cook, Chief Executive +44 (0)1202 882020
Warren Tucker, Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)1202 882020
Julian Wais, Director of Investor Relations +44 (0)1202 857998
Julian Hellebrand, Group Director of Communications +44 (0)1202 857651
Weber Shandwick Financial
Susan Ellis/James White +44 (0)20 7067 0700
NOTES
Cobham's products and services have been at the heart of sophisticated military and civil systems for more than 70 years, keeping people safe, improving communications and enhancing the capability of land, sea, air and space platforms. The Company has four divisions employing more than 12,000 people on five continents, with customers and partners in over 100 countries and annual revenues of more than £1bn.
Cobham Aviation Services operates more than 150 fixed and rotary wing aircraft globally. It operates the largest civil maritime surveillance contract in the world, covering more than 37,000 km of coastline and trains all UK helicopter pilots for the Navy, Air Force and Army. The Division provides modern battlespace air warfare training and essential flight inspection services for civil and military airports in the UK, Europe and beyond. It also specialises in the conversion and support of a wide range of civil and military platforms including the Nimrod MR2, R1 and Sentry E3-D fleets. The Division has responsibility for overseeing Cobham's involvement in the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme.
FB Heliservices (FBH) is a joint venture between Bristow and aerospace and defence specialist, Cobham plc. FBH provides all the helicopters for the Defence Helicopter Flying School and trains more than 220 aircrew each year for the RAF, Royal Navy and Army in the UK, Belize and Brunei. It also provides a search and rescue capability in Cyprus and search and rescue training at RAF Valley in North Wales.
Contract Details The new contract, which commenced on 1 October 2008, brings together the three previously separate contracts covering:
Belize - the provision of helicopters and support to the British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) and the Government of Belize to cover 24 hour Casualty Evacuation Services (CASEVAC) for both the military personnel carrying out jungle training and members of the civil population as well as providing general support to the military personnel there.
Brunei - the provision of helicopters and support to the Brunei Garrison to cover 24 hour CASEVAC together with transport and support of military personnel carrying out jungle training.
Middle Wallop training - the provision of ground school, simulator and flying training services to satisfy the aircrew training requirements associated with the Belize and Brunei operations.
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