4th Oct 2006 10:00
The Total Support Services (TSS) alliance companies, Thales UK,Smiths and SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems (S&AS) announce aStrategic Partnering Agreement with the Defence Aviation RepairAgency's (DARA) Electronics business at Sealand, North Wales. Theintent of the agreement is to establish the principles that wouldunderpin subsequent long-term service contracts across aircraftplatforms on both rotary and fixed wing programmes for the Ministry ofDefence (MoD). £ "The TSS alliance businesses are working closely with DARA tojointly develop UK military avionics support solutions that willbenefit from their combined and unique skills and capabilities,"commented Alan Lewis, DARA's Commercial Director. "We are delighted toform part of such a dynamic partnership and look forward to itscontinued development and growth." £ The agreement will offer the best value for the UK MoD bydeveloping innovative support solutions with industry such as theFoxhunter AI24 Radar support team and the migration of test solutionsfrom obsolete equipment to general purpose test equipment. This jointworking relationship has already improved radar availability to morethan 97%, with year on year cost reductions. £ TSS and DARA acknowledge that working together to optimise theirindividual and complementary skills can potentially reduce cost andcreate value for money with innovative support solutions to platformprimes (i.e. BAE SYSTEMS, AgustaWestland). The leveraging of thisindustrial capability is in line with the strategic plan of theDefence Logistic Organisation to "Transform Logistic Support." £ This agreement is a prime example that the TSS alliance is movingforward by developing a closer working relationship with DARA, whichwill enable the parties to jointly develop strategies to helprationalise future UK military avionics support capability. This willensure that the TSS alliance will be able to provide the most costeffective platform and commodity support solutions. By working withDARA Electronics, TSS will be able to ensure that the strategicallyimportant DARA repair capability is best integrated into any supportsolution. Working with DARA is one of the many steps that TSS is nowtaking to drive the rationalisation of the UK avionics support base tohelp the primes and the MoD meet tough affordability and availabilityimprovement targets. £ The fundamental principles outlined in the Agreement, which wouldbe adopted in future contractual arrangements, include how theparties: £ -- Support the Defence Industrial Strategy £ -- Individually achieve business growth £ -- Develop closer links with platform primes and throughout the supply chain £ -- Identify, develop and implement innovative support solutions £ -- Incentivise continuous improvement £ -- Promote openness and trust £ -- Implement effective contracting processes £ -- Manage and transfer risk £ -- Retain a UK industrial base of core skills and technology knowledge £ -- Work together to reduce cost and produce VFM solutions for the MoD £ -- Develop an efficient communication strategy £ TSS was formed between alliance companies Thales UK, SmithsAerospace and SELEX S&AS, a Finmeccanica company, the end of 2005.Under the alliance the three firms are providing integratedthrough-life support services for avionics and electrical systems tothe primes for MoD rotary and fixed wing aircraft. The alliance willuse its extensive domain expertise and established supply chainpartnering networks to drive down costs and improve equipmentavailability. Copyright Business Wire 2006Related Shares:
Smiths Group