Thales to provide Dassault Aviation with through-life support for Rafale avionics

NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, 16 Feb. 2010. Thales today announced that it has signed a contract with Dassault Aviation to provide maintenance support for avionics equipment on Rafale combat aircraft in service with the French armed forces.

"The contract is the first of its kind for this type of equipment, with a fixed price per hour of flight adding new extended services such as obsolescence management," says Pierre-Eric Pommellet, Thales senior vice president in charge of aerospace businesses.

The avionics support agreement with Thales flows from the comprehensive Rafale through-life support contract awarded to Dassault Aviation by SIMMAD (1) in late 2008 under a similar arrangement, with an initial five-year tranche followed by five further optional tranches of one year each.

This new contract is part of Thales's approach to service provision, based on end-to-end support solutions with guaranteed levels of operational availability. "We are continuing to tailor our services to match the evolving requirements of the armed forces while reducing the overall cost of support," Pommellet says.

(1) SIMMAD is a defense aircraft joint in-service support organization. It is the maintenance arm of the French Air Force with responsibility for joint forces operations, and receives its directives from the French chief of the defense staff).