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COLEMAN BARRACKS, Germany — The Theater Aviation Sustainment Manager-Europe is nearing completion of a Foreign Military Sales reset mission for the Dutch military.
TASM-E has already completed reset for two AH64D Apache helicopters owned by the Dutch military and is nearing completion of the third. The aircraft had been purchased by the Dutch military through the FMS program.
“We execute foreign military sales missions in addition to our regular mission of aircraft maintenance, generally on a reimbursable basis,” said Lt. Col. Tildon Allen, commander of TASM-E. “Our FMS operations include executing maintenance on aircraft that have been sold by the U.S. military to other governments as part of the FMS program.”
The employees of TASM-E take the maintenance of aircraft belonging to other countries as seriously as they do maintenance on an American military aircraft.
“We perform extensive maintenance on the aircraft,” said Fabriel Ortiz, TASM-E deputy commander. “The Dutch military did not have any personnel to perform Apache maintenance. They contacted us to see if we would conduct the maintenance for them on a reimbursable basis, and we agreed.”
The reimbursable program is actually a win-win situation for both the TASM-E and foreign governments. The TASM-E has all of its work funded, and the foreign governments are able to get world-class maintenance on their equipment.
The mission isn’t without its challenges, though.
“We have to receive repair parts from the Dutch government and sometimes that can take a while,” said Sgt. 1st Class Chad Eades. “They either have to remove parts from another aircraft that they have in the Netherlands or order the parts directly from Boeing and wait for delivery.
“They can order parts from the American military, but their priority is lower than U.S. units, so that can take a great deal of time as well,” he continued. “Regardless of the option they choose, we have to wait for the parts to arrive in theater before we can finish the reset mission.”
Despite the challenges, the last aircraft undergoing reset is scheduled to be complete within the next 60 days, at which time the aircraft will be returned to the Dutch military.
This reset mission is the second mission TASM-E has performed for the Netherlands this year. TASM-E also reset AH64D Apaches in March.
