Marshall has been awarded a GBP 4.5 million (USD 5.8 million) contract extension to continue providing engineering support for the French Air Force’s 14 Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules aircraft.
The contract, awarded by the Service Industriel de l’Aéronautique (SIAé), follows an initial four-year contract which was already extended once for two years.
Marshall will provide engineering support for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of the C-130H at SIAé’s facility in Clermont, France. The contract also includes the ongoing provision of C-130 parts and repair kits manufactured in-house by Marshall under exclusive Authority to Manufacture permissions granted by Lockheed Martin.
This extension strengthens Marshall’s well-established relationship with the French Air Force, which dates back to the initial contract award in December 2017. Marshall continued to provide support for the French Air Force during and after the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
The French Hercules fleet has played a crucial role in providing airborne logistical support for NATO member nations. It has been involved in military operations in Africa, such as Operation Serval in Mali, and has also participated in humanitarian missions across the Middle East and North Africa. Two of the oldest aircraft in the fleet, both from 1975, were originally owned by Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) but were relocated to France when the country collapsed in the 1990s.
Mark Hewer, Director of Aero Engineering for Marshall stated: “Securing this additional contract extension demonstrates the trust SIAé and the French Air Force continue to place in us to keep their fleet airworthy.”
“Thanks to our close working relationship and frequency of contact with SIAé, we are able to understand emergent needs and act on them immediately, drawing equally on our platform expertise and our engineering excellence.”
