AgustaWestland to maintain Sea King fleet

LONDON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Defense announced it has contracted AgustaWestland's U.K. operations for maintenance on the ministry's Sea King helicopters.

Under the more than $900 million support contract, the Defense Ministry transfers maintenance responsibilities to AgustaWestland including most of the ministry's on-site support fleet's search and rescue operation sites.

"I am delighted to announce the award of the second implementation phase of the Sea King Integrated Operational Support contract," British Minister for Defense Equipment and Support Baroness Ann Taylor said in a statement.

"The first phase of SKIOS successfully overhauled the way in which technical and spares services are provided to the different types of Sea King helicopter used by the U.K.'s armed forces and this second phase will broaden the work undertaken by industry on depth repair and flight line support to the search and rescue task."

Commonly referred to as the key workhorse of the U.K. armed forces, the Sea King helicopter fleet is often used in harsh and difficult environments.