Rolls-Royce opens first service delivery centre at RAF base

Rolls-Royce on Friday opened its first service delivery centre to support military engines at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Marham in Norfolk, UK.

The global power systems company said the facility was opened by Air Chief Marshal, Sir Stephen Dalton, and Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Officer, John Rishton.

Around 15 specialist Rolls-Royce engineers will work with RAF workers at the new centre for services on the Tornado combat aircraft's RB199 engines.

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The centre will aim to improve engine availability and reduce costs for customers.

Dalton said in a statment: "I was privileged to be at Royal Air Force Marham today to open the newly refurbished Rolls-Royce Service Delivery Centre.

"This state of the art facility will provide critical support to the Royal Air Force's Tornado fleet so that it can continue to deliver the first rate operational capability for which the force is justifiably famous."

Rolls-Royce has been supporting Tornado's engines under a contract with the RAF which was renewed and expanded in April 2010 to include the transfer of the RB199 repair and overhaul from Marham to Bristol.

Work on the service delivery centre started at Marham in April 2012 and was

completed in September.

John Rishton, Rolls-Royce Chief Executive, said: "This new Service Delivery

Centre is an excellent example of Rolls-Royce and the Royal Air Force working in close partnership at the heart of our customer's operations. It will enable us to maximise engine time on-wing and improve response times on critical operational decisions."

Shares fell 0.06% to 890.50p at 16:53 Friday.