Tel Aviv: Israeli company Elbit Systems is enhancing its training services to air forces. According to the company announcement, Affinity Flying Training Services Ltd. (“Affinity”), its UK joint venture (“JV”) with Kellog, Brown and Root Ltd. was awarded an approximately $88 million (approximately £65 million) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence for the operation of four additional Texan T-6C aircraft for the UK Military Flying Training System (“UKMFTS”) program. The contract will be performed over a 12-year period. Elbit Systems and KBR each hold a 50% share in Affinity and will evenly benefit from the contract.
The four additional Texan T-6C aircraft will be operated predominantly from Affinity’s site at Royal Air Force (“RAF”) Valley, where they will join the 10 existing Texans that are already in service. The UKMFTS is the UK’s program to deliver and support the RAF pilot training, procurement, operations and maintenance services. Taking place at RAF Cranwell, RAF Barkston Heath and RAF Valley on three different types of aircraft, Affinity has delivered over 20,000 flying hours for the UKMFTS program.
Martin Fausset, CEO of Elbit Systems UK Ltd., said: “This contract attests to the level of satisfaction from the services and support provided by us in the UKMFTS program. We are proud to be an integral partner of the UK MOD in providing training solutions for the RAF and of the contribution to the pilots’ operational readiness and efficiency.”
Elbit systems provides operation, maintenance and logistic services for the Flight Academies of the Israeli Air Force and the UK Royal Air Force, and has recently been contracted for approximately $1.65 billion to establish and operate the International Flight Training Centre of the Hellenic Air Force.
Under these programs, the company supplies the training aircraft for each Air Force and operates the entire training fleet that is comprised of dozens of training aircraft. The Company also provides its advanced Embedded Virtual Avionics on-board the training aircraft, ground based training systems and delivers efficient management of the flight training operation.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
