Snecma has signed a five-year partnership agreement with the Service Industriel de l'Aeronautique (SIAe), the maintenance, repair and overhaul arm for aircraft deployed by French armed forces, covering MRO services for the M53, M88 and TP400 engines powering the Mirage, Rafale and A400M, respectively.

The contract was signed in a ceremony attended by General Jean-Paul Palomeros, French air force Chief of Staff, Jean-Paul Herteman, Chief Executive Officer of Safran, Philippe Petitcolin, Chairman and CEO of Snecma and Ingenieur General de l'Armement (Chief Scientist Defense) Christian Chabbert, Director General of the SIAe.

The two partners are teaming up to enable the SIAe to meet the requirements of the French Ministry of Defense, and to help Snecma deliver enhanced service to its customers in France and abroad.

Their joint goal is to develop a system capable of managing fluctuating workloads in order to guarantee optimum customer service, while also fostering complementary industrial capabilities that make maximum use of available resources.

"The collaboration between Snecma and SIAe is primarily designed to meet the needs of our armed forces, to improve the dispatch reliability of our products, and to provide comprehensive support to our customers, from commissioning to end of life. Our aim is to ensure maximum reliability for the fleets deployed by all users, under the best possible financial conditions," said Philippe Petitcolin.

SIAe head Christian Chabbert added, "In addition to the advantages for our customers, and the enhanced performance of our production units, this collaboration paves the way for us to meet two equally important objectives: it establishes a real climate of mutual confidence between the two entities, to ensure solid teamwork on a sustained basis, and it gives us real long-term visibility, to guarantee the success of our industrial operations."

The agreement signed [today] seeks to implement the innovative industrial organization solutions needed to enhance Snecma engine support for all users.