Performance-Based Logistics has become a way of life in Britain’s military, and has also been adopted for some programs in the USA, Canada, France, and other countries. Now, a $5.8 billion contract will add the UAE to that list, and support every aircraft and helicopter in the UAE’s armed forces: Air Force, Army, Navy, Special forces, and the Presidential Guard.
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Toward the end of the 2013 Dubai Air Show, state-owned Mubadala Development Company PJSC announced that its Advanced Military Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Center (AMMROC) LLC joint venture had secured the 5-year, AED 21.14 billion performance based logistics contract.
This successor to the AED 1.15 billion November 2011 agreement will graduate to providing provide full logistics, maintenance and repair services, on a cost per flight-hour basis that’s usually found in commercial service. Mubadala refers to it as a step that “fulfills the vision for AMMROC, as set out by the UAE government in 2006.”
The UAE has learned from others’ examples. The November 2011 support contract explicitly stated that a full PBL agreement was the goal in 2 years, but they were wise to wait. Experiences in Britain and elsewhere show that a shortage of meaningful data and shared understanding on both sides of the contracting arrangement is too dangerous, absent an initial period that provides a framework for building that shared understanding of cost and risk. That’s why British contracts consistently began with transition contracts, or PBL efforts that began by covering components before expanding to cover the entire platform.
If anything, the UAE’s sudden jump to PBL across its entire aircraft and helicopter fleet is a bit sudden. Absent insider reports, or accountability from an independent external audit agency like Britain’s NAO, the effectiveness of this move will only be apparent to insiders.
AMMROC is a joint venture of the UAE’s Mubadala Aerospace, Sikorsky Aerospace Services, and Lockheed Martin. They’re based at Abu Dhabi International Airport, UAE. Sources: Mubadala, “AMMROC Contract to ensure full operational fleet readiness for UAE Armed Forces across full aircraft fleet” | Arabian Aerospace, “Dubai Airshow: AMMROC and Eurocopter deliver Panther [helicopter] to the UAE” | UPI, “UAE extends AMMROC’s aircraft maintenance services”.
