AERALIS, the transformational British military jet developer, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with France-based SDTS, exploring light fast jet aviation services in France. 

The MOU is designed to facilitate collaborative working to explore an aircraft service offering in the light fast jet defence market, targeting upcoming contracts in French defence operational training and combat air support roles. It also seeks to explore the opportunities across the French market for ‘air support service’ hours, identifying the requirement gap in quantifiable terms.   

The signing of this MoU signifies AERALIS’ ambition in the French aviation market and comes at a time of increased UK-France defence collaboration. A framework for future defence cooperation between France and the UK was agreed at a summit between Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunak on 10^th March. This MoU compliments the government’s overriding ambition to further collaboration of UK and French defence capabilities over the course of the next decade.

SDTS has provided air service missions for operational training of the armed forces for many years. With more than 250 missions per year, SDTS has deployed its air assets and all its staff (pilots and aviation mechanics) for RED AIR missions, combined Air/Sea landing exercises, marine air defence controller training missions, and more to support the armed forces. Each mission is a custom-designed service.

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The list of AERALIS partners has continued to grow and this comes after an agreement was signed with Japanese aircraft manufacturers ShinMaywa in March. Momentum has continued since the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) December 2022 announcement of a £9 million contract with AERALIS, that seeks to learn from their pioneering approach to digital aircraft design, engineering and manufacturing.