(Newcastle, Australia) Martin-Baker’s commitment to supporting the Joint Strike Fighter in the Asia-Pacific region took a leap forward this week with the opening of the Martin-Baker Australia Field Office at Williamtown.
The Field Service needs of the global JSF fleet had until now been met by the Martin-Baker locations at Denham (UK) and Johnstown (USA), however with the growth of the fleet and the deployment of USMC F-35Bs to Iwakuni in Japan, it has become necessary to have a third location capable of supporting their needs.
“This has always been our plan since day one on this programme to have three locations with full JSF seat capability for Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade of not just the US16E seat fitted to JSF, but all the support equipment associated with it. Australia, and more specifically Williamtown where the office is opening, is an ideal location as it will be a major hub in the JSF network and Australia’s main operating base for JSF”, said Andrew Martin, Martin-Baker Aircraft Company’s Director of Business Development and Marketing.
“Being able to dispatch a Martin-Baker Australia Field Service Engineer to anywhere in the Asia-Pacific will significantly reduce our response time in the region,” said Steve Roberts, Martin-Baker JSF IPT Lead. “They will be able to carry out maintenance and training for our customers at very short notice. Clearly the RAAF will be a major beneficiary of this investment by Martin-Baker.”
“We are very excited. This is a major step forward for Martin-Baker Australia. Whilst the JSF capability is the driving force for the timing of this, Williamtown represents a large number of other platforms and customers including Classic Hornet, Hawk, PC-9, Discovery Air Alphajets and soon PC-21,” said Andrew Eden, Martin-Baker Australia’s Managing Director.
This news comes on the tail of Martin-Baker Australia securing a contract with Pilatus for the MRO of all RAAF PC-21 Ejection seats and Canopies commencing in 2018. PC-21 represents the largest single fleet of ejection seats in Australia and this capability is being established at RAAF Base Pearce. Between Pearce and Williamtown, Martin-Baker Australia will have coast-to-coast coverage and the capability to perform maintenance on any of its products at both locations in the near future.
The new Martin-Baker Australia Field Office is located at 1 Technology Place, Building C1, Williamtown NSW 2318.
Martin-Baker, headquartered in Denham, England, is the world’s leading manufacturer of ejection and crashworthy seats, having saved 7,550 lives, of which 78 are Australian. There are more than 17,000 seats in service in 90 countries and 56 different air frames.