Vector Aerospace Corporation (Vector – www.vectoraerospace.com), one of the world’s leading independent providers of aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul services welcomed Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton RAF to its Fleetlands facility on Monday 11 October. The Chief of the Air Staff visited Vector Aerospace Helicopter Services to present a select group of Vector personnel with their Operational Service Medals for Afghanistan, for their work carried out on Chinook helicopters through Contractors on Deployed Operations (CONDO).

In November 2008, the Chinook Project Team requested Boeing to provide a Contractors on Deployed Operations group consisting of one Boeing Field Service Engineer and eight Vector Aerospace aircraft technicians. The contractors have been deployed in Afghanistan since March 2009, working as part of the integrated RAF/CONDO Chinook engineering team. The CONDO teams spend four months in-theatre.

The Vector personnel are mainly employed on scheduled maintenance activities. However they also provide support to aircraft builds for helicopters arriving in-theatre, breakdowns for aircraft returning to the UK, heavy rectifications and structural repairs.

The Vector teams’ excellent technical knowledge and skill, particularly with structural repairs, has provided significant benefit to the deployed Chinook Force, where they have contributed to the sustainability and availability levels of the aircraft. The integrated teams’ exceptional focus on meeting the operational demands has been greatly appreciated by the end users.