Leonardo and Northrop Grumman Australia (NGA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the C-27J logistic support to be offered to New Zealand at the Avalon Air Show.
According to the memorandum, Leonardo, of which C-27J is one of its flagship products, and NGA, a leading company in logistics support services, will present a joint bid to respond to the Royal New Future Air Mobility Capability program (FAMC) Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) which aims to replace the fleet of obsolete C-130H.
The partnership between Leonardo and NGA strengthens the offer focused on the C-27J, ensuring full support throughout the life cycle of the aircraft and allowing in the future any fleet modernization to take place efficiently and with wide margins of autonomy by the customer.
The versatility of the C-27J, already operated with excellent results by the Royal Australian Air Force, combined with the proven experience of NGA will allow the RNZAF to effectively perform a wide range of tactical transport missions, civil protection, search and rescue and VIP transport in more difficult operational and environmental scenarios.
Maurizio De Mitri, Marketing and Sales Director of Leonardo Velivoli, said: "with this partnership we want to make Australia our regional hub for the C-27J so as to provide New Zealand not only with an excellent product but also with services. support at height, thus ensuring maximum efficiency of their transport and rescue missions in the years to come. The positive experience of the Australian C-27J fleet already testifies to our commitment and we are confident that New Zealand will benefit greatly from choosing the Spartan ”.
“We are delighted to be able to leverage our excellence, including our in-depth knowledge of the C-27J, to offer customers in this region highly competitive support services,” said Nic Maan, director of Northrop Grumman Australia - Technology Services. “This memorandum confirms the importance of the strategic partnership between Northrop Grumman and Leonardo, whose experience will be ideal for offering the C-27J to New Zealand,” adds Maan.
Northrop Grumman Australia employs more than fifty people at the Richmond RAAF base providing logistics, engineering, modernization and upgrading of the Australian C-27J fleet with a timely, holistic and highly efficient approach to ensure perfect operational responsiveness and to anticipate future fleet updates.
The C-27J Spartan is a military tactical transport aircraft capable of routinely operating from short, unprepared airstrips, the C-27J offers unique qualities not found in aircraft of the same class or derived from commercial platforms: robustness , reliability and exceptional maneuverability. The Spartan is capable of autonomous operations from remote areas and is qualified to perform short take-offs and landings on any type of unprepared runway (snow, sand, gravel and grass). The C-27J is in service with some of the
most important air forces, including the Italian Air Force, the US Army and Coast Guard and the Australian RAAF, which employ it with great success.
Leonardo, a global high-tech company, is among the top ten companies in the world in Aerospace, Defense and Security and the leading Italian industrial company. Organized into five business divisions, Leonardo has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland and the US, leveraging its areas of technological and product leadership (Helicopters, Airplanes, Aerostructures, Electronics, Cyber Security and Space).
Northrop Grumman is a leading international security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in the fields of unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, space, logistics and modernization to customers around the world.