Australia awards follow-on Sentinel contract to Cobham

Australian customs and border protection service has awarded a follow-on Sentinel aerial maritime surveillance contract to Cobham.

The recent £105m contract will extend the previously awarded contract by two years, and its base period of performance until the end of 2021.

Cobham CEO Bob Murphy said, "We’re very proud of the civil maritime surveillance service we provide in Australia and the positive relationship we have with the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service."

"This two year agreement extends our operation till 2021 and further underpins our business operations in this strategically important country, where we also provide contracted airline services for Qantas and fly in fly out services for numerous resource industry clients."

Under a performance based service contract, Cobham Aviation Services has been providing protection services to Australia’s borders since 1995.

The contract involves full turnkey operation of 10 highly modified Bombardier Dash 8 maritime patrol aircraft which can fly 2,500 missions and 15,000 hours each year.

Capable of acting as a live link in a national data communications chain, the aircraft features new generation surveillance sensors and advanced satellite communications systems.

The aircraft will provide a stream of timely, high quality surveillance information while enabling customers to make informed border security decisions in real time.