Boeing [BA] announced Thursday a five-year contract with German-based manufacturing company COTESA to supply components for its fleet of CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.
The contract, the first Boeing has completed with COTESA, calls for the German aerospace and automotive composite components supplier to manufacture parts needed for the external portion of the Chinook helicopter’s tunnel cover section.
“The contract award to COTESA is a testament to the technology potential we see in Germany and another important milestone in our partnership with German industry,” Boeing Europe President Sir Michael Arthur said in a statement.
The contract is meant to integrate COTESA into Boeing’s established German supply chain system. Boeing already has 600 employees in the country and in 2016 spent almost $1.3 billion with more than 100 suppliers in Germany.
Boeing has built over 900 CH-47 Chinook helicopters and supplies them to 19 countries, including 8 NATO nations, such as the U.S., Canada and the U.K. The helicopters, first produced in 1962, are among the fastest heavy-lifters available and are used for troop deployment and disaster relief operations.
The new partnership will place a focus on COTESA’s specialty in producing carbon fiber reinforced polymer components and glass fiber reinforced plastic structures.
Boeing declined to disclose the value of the contract.