Cobham has been awarded a contract by the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) worth up to $7.1 million to overhaul and upgrade Nitrogen Inerting Units (NIUs) for the AH-64 Apache helicopter. The work will be performed by Cobham Life Support in Davenport, Iowa, beginning in 2013.

In September 2012, Cobham received a five year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at some $15 million to manufacture OBIGGS NIUs for US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters. The OBIGGS fulfils a critical aircraft safety system role by displacing fuel tank vapors with inert nitrogen gas, reducing the risk of explosion. More than 1,500 Apache helicopters with Cobham NIUs have been delivered worldwide.

Cobham Life Support president Kelly Coffield said: “This award reflects Cobham’s unrivalled decades of experience in the design, development, delivery and support of fuel tank inerting systems, ranging from depot repair to equipping and training customers to fully maintaining products at their own facilities. ”

Cobham remains the world-wide leader in military OBIGGS providing solutions since 1985 on more than 2,400 aircraft flying today, ranging from military helicopters, military transport aircraft like the C-17 Globe Master, to regional and commercial platforms such as Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Cobham OBIGGS systems have logged more than six million flight hours total experience including 12 international customers. Cobham can tailor the
modular range of proven OBIGGS to fit a wide range of applications.

About Cobham:
Cobham protects lives and livelihoods with its differentiated technology and know-how, operating with a deep insight to customer needs and agility. The Group offers an innovative range of technologies and services to solve challenging problems across commercial, defence and security markets, from deep space to the depths of the ocean. It has market leading positions in air-to-air refuelling; aviation services; audio, video and data communications, including satellite communications; defence electronics; life support and mission equipment. The most important thing Cobham builds is trust.

About Cobham Life Support
Cobham Life Support specialises in life support and personal survival equipment systems including oxygen systems for aviators and astronauts, crew restraints, flotation gear and crew and cargo release mechanisms. Manufacturing personal and on-board systems, Cobham Life Support provides military helicopter pilots and US armoured vehicle crews with liquid-cooled vests to increase endurance in the heat of battle, protects aircraft fuel tanks against fire on military and commercial aircraft and generates on-board oxygen on more than 2500 military aircraft, to reduce aircraft reliance on bottled systems. The Cobham Life Support cryogenic cooling range enables infrared electro-optical equipment in missile seekers, targeting systems, aircraft defensive countermeasure systems, and night vision equipment.