Netherlands MoD awards five year Dutch aerial services contract to AEC Skyline

Datum:14-07-2022

On 12 July the Netherlands MoD announced it has awarded its latest, multi-year aerial services contract to domestic defence company AEC Skyline. The contract’s five year framework includes the delivery of airborne (JTAC CAS) and threat simulation, jamming and ISR services as well as advice & assistance and support to concept development & experimentation activities by the Dutch military. The agreement was signed by the Netherlands Defence Materiel Organisation’s procurement director Roselinde Wijman with CEO Stef Have acting on behalf of AEC Skyline.

Adherence to various NATO STANAGs regarding the use of EO, IR, SAR still and/or full motion imagery, GMTI, the ISR library interface used is also stipulated in the contract as well as the ability to control the sensors of the platforms that will be provided by AEC Skyline from a ground control station. New capabilities required under the latest contract include multi-/hyperspectral and wide area motion imagery (WAMI) sensor systems. Also part of the framework agreement is Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUMT) training.

Building on 30 years of experience in providing high end, cost effective contract air services to the Dutch and allied armed forces, AEC Skyline is honoured to be awarded yet another contract by one of its foremost clients. AEC Skyline’s CEO Stef Have comments: “we as a company are looking forward to strengthening and expanding our business relationship with the Dutch military. We are grateful to be awarded this latest contract which I consider to be in recognition of our high standards and the trust that has been developed over the years between our staff and the military. AEC Skyline’s personnel will continue to provide first rate support during training exercises as well as operations with us, like before, aiming to operate as closely integrated as possible with our customer.”

The services will mostly be rendered in Dutch airspace, although the contract also requires AEC Skyline to operate within NATO, Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries, NATO allies and above international waters.

AEC Skyline will be responsible for procurement, installation, certification, maintenance, repair, replacement and adjustment of the mission and safety equipment and updates in the platforms used, either already installed or planned to be installed, for the duration of the agreement, all this in accordance with Netherlands military aviation regulations.

About AEC Skyline

AEC Skyline provides fast air, ISR support and critical data solutions to a wide range of clients including the Netherlands and coalition armed forces, the defence and aerospace industry, as well as to a number of renowned research institutes.

Operating out of Groningen Airport Eelde and Breda Airport, the company offers close air support, EW, “red air” training, target towing and remote sensing together with IT networking, systems integration solutions and consultancy services. Recently, LOWLAND was launched, our S2IX powered combat data transfer solution. This is part of AEC Skyline’s growing critical data solutions portfolio which also includes Whisper hosting, our new secure roaming services.

In addition, AEC Skyline represents some of the world’s leading OEMs in the fields of network radio communications, information management and video encoding solutions such as L3Harris Communications, Persistent Systems, Myriad Technologies and Haivision. Recognising the growing demand for unmanned systems, AEC Skyline also partners with Elistair, the renowned tethered drone company, and with Milrem Robotics, integrating new technologies into their family of advanced UGVs.