Societe Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aeronautiques : SABCA & Sabena Aerospace sign a Memorandum Of Understanding

SABCA & Sabena Aerospace sign a Memorandum Of Understanding

The two companies are planning to develop Maintenance Repair Overhaul and

Upgrade acvies for military aircraſt in Africa from Morocco

Casablanca, November 26th2018, SABCA and Sabena Aerospace are signing, on the occasion of the state visit of Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, Representave of His Majesty the King, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the objecve of creang a major and independent regional player in Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) for military aircraſt.

An MRO&U center in Africa

SABCA, through its subsidiary SABCA Maroc, partner with Sabena Aerospace to propose, from Morocco, services for military aircraſt maintenance.

The first idenfied plaorm is the C-130, a military transport aircraſt built by Lockheed. The aircraſt is well known by Sabena Aerospace, one of the first company in the world to be cerfied in 1976 by Lockheed to provide maintenance services on the C-130.

In a second phase, the partners want to extend their offer to other plaorms mastered by SABCA such as F-16, Alphajet, Mirage F1 or Agusta A-109.

If those services will be naturally developed in priority for the Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF), SABCA and Sabena Aerospace intenon is to offer this new capability to other countries, making Morocco a major regional player in the military maintenance.

Morocco, a logical choice

" Morocco has quickly became a natural choice to install this new base.»explain Thibauld Jongen, CEO of the SABCA Group.

" The experience gained through the development of our subsidiary SABCA Maroc is very posive: the workforce is highly skilled, the government encourage the industrial development and both our countries want to strengthen their cooperaon.

We produce in Casablanca assemblies for Airbus and Dassault Aviaon aircraſt since 2012 et we are planning to further develop this acvity.

In term of aircraſt maintenance, we also have strong es with the country as we modernized, in close cooperaon with the RMAF, their Mirage F1 and Alphajet fleets. A very successful experience which leſt only good memories to both pares.

We are therefore looking forward to wring a new chapter to our cooperaon with Morocco together with Sabena Aerospace"

A partnership between SABCA and Sabena Aerospace

« We are pleased to start this first collaborave venture with the SABCA group. For several years now, Sabena Aerospace aims to develop industrial partnership with major aerospace players in Belgium to offer unique soluon to the market thanks to the combinaon of their respecve experse"says Stéphane Burton, CEO of Sabena Aerospace.

Since 2014, Sabena Aerospace has developed a partnership model in several Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA) countries combining technical assistance and training. We are looking forward to materializing this project with SABCA with an industrial iniave in Morocco.

Beside the historical links between Belgium and Morocco, Sabena Aerospace has strong es, for several decades, with the Moroccan aviaon professionals including Royal Air Maroc for which the support of the airlines in several airport in the EMEA"

Finally, like the partnership between the Belgium Defense and the Belgian industry, this combined offer from two major players in the military maintenance will allow the RMAF to develop a long term strategic partnership with a Moroccan industrial player, opmize operaonal availability of their fleet and strengthen the Moroccan aeronauc experse.

We are looking forward to quickly starng this partnership with SABCA and theRoyal Moroccan Air Force."

About SABCA

The SABCA Group, made up of SABCA (Société Anonyme Belge de Construcons Aéronauques) and its subsidiaries SABCA Limburg and SABCA Maroc, conducts operaons from three Belgian regions (Brussels-Capital Region, Charleroi in Wallonia, and Lummen in Flanders), as well as from Casablanca, Morocco. Today, it demonstrates experse that is as rich as it is varied, built over its 98+ years of experience in designing, manufacturing, maintaining, and updang large and complex elements for aircraſt and space launchers. Its customers and partners belong to the elite of the aerospace world and are spread worldwide. SABCA offers a full range of services to the civil and military aviaon markets and recently in the UAS market for as plaorm design and manufacturing, ground-and flight tesng, UAS qualificaon and cerficaon.

Press Contact,Sophia Abdoue-e-mail:[e-mail]

About Sabena Aerospace

Sabena Aerospace is an independent Belgian MRO provider operang at internaonal level and offering maintenance and operaonal soluons for both civil and military aircraſt. The acvies of Sabena Aerospace are structured in 4 Business Units: Engineering & Training, Operaonal Support, Components and Defense. Sabena Aerospace employs over 400 people and develops its acvies from its historic headquarters at Brussels Airport, thanks to its facilies in 9 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Tanzania, Congo RDC, Congo Brazzaville, Zimbabwe & Mauritania). It's internaonal commercial moo perfectly summaries the company's strategy: "Keep Flying, We Take Care"

Press Contact,Luc Van de Winckel-e-mail:[e-mail]