Zaventem, 23 January 2018 – Today Sabena Aerospace and Ignition! hosted a ceremonial event with Lockheed Martin recognizing Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) which develop further long-term partnerships for sustainment and training services.

MoA between Sabena Aerospace and Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin’s Essential Security Interests (ESI) provisions extend a core element of Sabena Aerospace’s business in the coming decades. These provisions include the extension of sustainment services for Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules and will further enable Sabena Aerospace’s growth into international markets and other models.

Stéphane Burton, CEO of Sabena Aerospace declared: “We are very excited to strengthen our collaboration with Lockheed Martin. We believe it to be important to Belgium and its economy. Lockheed Martin’s ESI provisions support the continuity and the development of our operations, critical to Sabena Aerospace’s strategy for growth, while retaining a talented workforce”.

MoA between Ignition! and Lockheed Martin
In 2017, the Group Sonaca and Sabena Aerospace united their expertise to serve the defense industry and founded the company Ignition!. This company aims to offer innovative services in the field of military aeronautics, in Belgium and abroad.
The MoA between Ignition! and Lockheed Martin identifies partnerships in the areas of logistics including management of fleet, spare parts, ground equipment, aircraft repairs and equipment upgrades; equipment and aircraft maintenance, mainly on military bases; and the training of pilots and technicians.

Bernard Delvaux, co-Founder Ignition!: “The signing of the Memorandum of Agreement today is an important step forward, which demonstrates that Lockheed Martin is considering Ignition! as a trustworthy partner. We hope to progress rapidly with Ignition!, but also with the Sonaca group, to sign more firm engagements, in the near future. These engagements are a right step to materialize our collaboration with Lockheed Martin with the F-35 offering, which supports the replacement of the F- 16.”

Lockheed Martin’s Essential Security Interests’ propositions associated with the F-35 proposal will create credible competitive opportunities for Ignition! in the fields of maintenance, logistics, Fleet management and training services.

Gregory Day, F-35 Belgium Business Development from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, stated: “We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Sabena Aerospace and Ignition. These are two of the key Belgian aerospace companies that provide best-value solutions in sustainment and training”.

Representatives who participated in the signing are Stéphane Burton, on behalf of Sabena Aerospace, Bernard Delvaux on behalf of Ignition! and Gregory Day, F-35 Belgium Business Development from Lockheed Martin, at Sabena Aerospace’s headquarters in Zaventem.