Rheinmetall CH-53G Helicopter Maintenance Contract: German defence giant Rheinmetall has won a contract from the Bundeswehr to look after, maintain and repair German Air Force’s Sikorsky CH-53G transport helicopters at two additional bases, the company said on Tuesday.
Starting in March 2022, the company has been supporting the German Air Force at Laupheim in Baden-Württemberg and Holzdorf-Schönewalde on the border of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, conducting pre-flight inspections and operating a total of three service bays for partial work phases at the 64th Helicopter Squadron.
Rheinmetall said the contract, which is in lower two-digit million-euro range, will be executed through its company Rheinmetall Aviation Services GmbH for three years in two lots.
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Rheinmetall has been maintaining CH-53G helicopters on behalf of the German Air Force ever since November 2020. As planned, the company took over maintenance operations at Diepholz Air Base in Lower Saxony in March 2021.
The 64th Helicopter Squadron is stationed in Laupheim where, together with its air transport group at Holzdorf-Schönewalde, it operates 66 CH-53G helicopters, an aircraft which has been in the Bundeswehr inventory since 1972.
In all cases, the work Rheinmetall carries out is directly embedded in the structures of the 64th Helicopter Squadron.
Overcoming rival bids in a request for tenders, the Düsseldorf-based integrated technology group’s subsidiary Rheinmetall Aviation Services GmbH (RAS) will now be carrying out maintenance operations at Laupheim and Holzdorf-Schönewalde.
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CH-53G helicopter of German Air Force.
Rheinmetall Aviation Services
Based in Bremen, Rheinmetall Aviation Services GmbH was founded in 2019 for the Group’s strategic cooperation with Sikorsky in pursuit of the Heavy Transport Helicopter procurement programme, with RAS in charge of maintenance, repairs, training and documentation.
Rheinmetall and Sikorsky, which is part of US defence giant Lockheed Martin, have been actively cooperating in various procurement projects ever since 2009.
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According to the German defence company, the expertise acquired along the way has been profitably applied on behalf of the Bundeswehr since the start of 2021 at Diepholz Air Base, where Rheinmetall Aviation Services GmbH supports the German Air Force with two full-service maintenance bays.
With this latest contract, Rheinmetall will now be supporting the German Air Force wherever CH-53G helicopters are home based.
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