ST Engineering Signs C295 MRO Deal With Airbus
SINGAPORE:Singapore’s ST Engineering Defence Aerospace has signed an agreement with Airbus Defence and Space to jointly-develop Singapore into a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hub for Asia Pacific operators of Airbus’ C295 medium tactical airlifter.
With ST Engineering’s Airbus-accredited capability to conduct MRO on the C295 platform, ST will be supporting C295 fleets in the region by providing depot level maintenance as well as turnkey solutions at the Singapore facility.
“ST Engineering has been a long-time partner across Airbus’ business lines, and we are pleased to extend this collaboration where we leverage its established strength in MRO. We look forward to this centre of excellence supporting our C295 operators in Asia-Pacific with efficiency, cost effectiveness and quality,” said Airbus Defence and Space head of Asia-Pacific, Zakir Hamid.
“With this latest collaboration with Airbus, we are extending our MRO solutions in tactical airlifters to the C295 platform. Working closely with Airbus, we will harness our deep experience and capabilities in MRO to contribute to the mission success of C295 operators in the region,” said ST Engineering president of defence aerospace Sarbjit Singh.
The C295 is a tactical military airlifter that can be configured in several configurations, involving the Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) and Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) configurations. Over 300 units of the aircraft are serving in 41 air forces across the world, including the Royal Thai Army, Vietnam’s People’s Air Force, the Philippine Air Force and Indonesian Air Force as well the Indonesian National Police.
On Feb 14, the Royal Brunei Air Force took delivery of the first two C295s in a four-plane deal. In Sept 2023, the Indian Air Force received their first C295, while the Indian defence ministry has just approved a proposal for another 15 C295 MPAs. Nine of the aircraft are earmarked for the Indian Navy while the remaining will go to the Indian Coast Guard. shp/adj/dl (Pix:Airbus)