Sikorsky Aerospace Services Partnering with Mubadala Development to Open MRO Center in UAE

Released on Tuesday, February 24, 2009

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Sikorsky Aerospace Services and the Mubadala Development Company today announced "the signing of a Heads of Agreement (HOA) to form a joint venture that will establish an aviation military Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Center serving the United Emirates Armed Forces and other military aircraft throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Mubadala is a leading business development and investment company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) and the parent of the Sikorsky Aerospace Services aftermarket business, which will have a leading role as a partner in the new venture.

The HOA signed at the IDEX defense exhibition outlines the companies' intent to establish the joint venture MRO Center in Abu Dhabi. The center will provide full logistics maintenance capabilities for the UAE Armed Forces' fixed and rotary wing aircraft, while developing market opportunities to support the military aviation industry throughout the region.

"This agreement marks a major step in development of the regions prominence as an aerospace leader and in Sikorsky Aerospace Service's mission to establish strategic partnerships in every region of the world where our customers operate," said David Adler, President of Sikorsky Aerospace Services. "Together with Mubadala, we intend to bring world-class, one-stop support and logistics maintenance capabilities to this region."

"Mubadala's strategy to help build a self sustaining and commercially viable support system for the UAE and regional military is in line with the global military trend of using sophisticated outsourced support services," said Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, COO of Mubadala. "Our partnership with Sikorsky Aerospace Services fits our commercial strategy to evolve the Emirate of Abu Dhabi&'s existing aerospace industry into a global aerospace hub."

As the manufacturer of BLACK HAWK and SEAHAWK® military helicopters, and S-76® and S-92® commercial helicopters, Sikorsky Aircraft products are prevalent in the Middle East and many other regions. Sikorsky delivered 10 S-70A BLACK HAWK helicopters to the UAE in 2008. An additional 10 are scheduled for delivery this year, and 26 UH-60M helicopters are contracted for delivery in 2010 and 2011.