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Saudi defence minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has signed a key agreement extending Panavia Tornado work for the Royal Saudi Air Force at the Alsalam Aircraft Company Programmed Depot Maintenance facility at in Riyadh.

Tornado maintenance work was carried out in the UK until 1997 when a Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) facility was established by Alsalam and BAE Systems.

This was the first time that expertise and technology-based systems were transferred to local companies in the Kingdom.

The transfer to Alsalam brings cost and time savings for the Royal Saudi Air Force, and creates high value jobs in Saudi Arabia.

"A feature of the new contract with Alsalam is to give them more management responsibility," says Martin McCann, BAE Systems Al Yamamah director. Alsalam will also take on the job of supplying local procurement of consumable items and expanding the local manufacture of other parts."