Boeing

With a five-year, $650 million contract, the U.S. Navy has selected The Boeing Company to continue support for the T-45 Training System and dramatically reduce the cost of ownership for this key component of Naval Aviation training.

Under the T45TS Contractor Logistics Support contract, Boeing Aerospace Support, along with its industry team of Rolls-Royce, British Aerospace and Raytheon, will provide all logistics support for the U.S. Navy's T-45 Goshawk training aircraft and related ground training systems at Naval Air Stations Kingsville, Texas, and Meridian, Miss. For the T-45 aircraft, this support includes flight-line operations and maintenance; component and depot maintenance; paint removal using the environmentally sound Boeing FLASHJET® coatings removal system; corrosion control; painting; and spares inventory management and supply.

Boeing also will staff and manage Training Support Centers and be responsible for the operation, maintenance and support of the entire ground training systems at both sites.

The competitive award of the T45TS Contractor Logistics Support contract comes after seven years of Boeing-supplied interim contractor support. During that time, cost per flight hour was reduced by more than 20 percent. Under the new contract, Boeing expects the Navy to realize an additional flight-hour cost reduction of almost 40 percent over the next five years.

"This contract is a great example of the significant 'cost-of-ownership' savings that can be achieved through the aggressive pursuit of integrated life-cycle customer support solutions," said Jim Restelli, vice president and general manager of Aerospace Support. "The approach we have applied in this support package for the T45TS is totally aligned with our driving focus within Boeing Aerospace Support - to provide affordable, fast turnaround, preeminent quality support to reduce our customers' life-cycle costs.

"We are working closely with our customers to provide this focus on integrated support solutions to new programs, such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which will allow these platforms to benefit from similar cost-of-ownership savings," Restelli said.

Approximately 700 people from Boeing Aerospace Operations, part of the Aerospace Support business, support the T45TS at Kingsville and Meridian. The two bases are home to more than 100 Goshawks, which are used for intermediate and advanced jet training for future Naval aviators. A total of 234 are planned to be produced by Boeing for the U.S. Navy.

99-89