AVIATION group Cobham Flight Inspection has landed a £10m deal which will see its expertise and technology harnessed at all Ministry of Defence’s airfields across the globe from Afghanistan to The Falklands.
The company, which is based at Durham Tees Valley Airport, has won a four-year contract with the MoD – with two additional one-year options – that will involve the calibration of navigation and landing aids at airfields all over the world.
Cobham Flight Inspection employs around 50 people at its North East base alongside a further 20 in Germany and is the world’s largest commercial provider of both civil and military flight inspection services.
The group is one of very few aviation services companies covering flight- check navigation aids for moving landing strips on military ships – an asset which played a key role in helping the firm win the £10m MoD contract.
Flight inspection director Ron Raison said: “Cobham Flight Inspection has clearly shown it can offer a competitive, value for money service in this important safety critical operation.
“Cobham prides itself on its ability to provide a responsive and flexible service, which can meet the ever-changing demands of its customers.
“Through its service on this contract and other key service delivery arrangements for the UK MoD, Cobham has demonstrated its capability in partnering, innovative solutions and flexibility, such that it has been assessed as the premier supplier to the UK MoD.”
Cobham Flight Inspection is a division of the global, £1.9bn-a-year technology giant Cobham, which specialises in meeting the demand for data, connectivity and bandwidth in defence, security and commercial environments.
The group’s Darlington-headquart- ered operation moved to the region from Stansted in 1996. It now owns a fleet of King Air specialist aircraft with dedicated flight inspection systems on board while it is awaiting delivery of a Diamond DA42 plane from Austria which is fitted with the latest US-made flight-checking technology. The company recruited a new flight inspector and is looking to add a proposals assistant to its team.
