For the past seven years, the Royal Norwegian Air Force Falcon 20-5s have been carefully maintained at our Bournemouth HQ by Draken Europe’s Base Maintenance Engineering Team, led by Senior Base Engineer, Chris Read. During this time the honesty, integrity and professionalism of the team have allowed us to forge a lasting relationship of trust and mutual respect with the RNoAF which we hope will last long into the future.

We completed maintenance on two of their aircraft for the last time this week, under the ownership of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, as they are due to retire both Reg 041 and 053 — appropriately named Hugin and Munin, paying tribute to the Ravens of the Norse God Odin, who gather information for him. The aircraft have provided invaluable service to the RNoAF in the defence support of their country and other NATO allies. As technology advances, they will be replaced by the P8 Poseidon aircraft of the RNoAF.

Representatives from the RNoAF and the Norwegian Defence Material Agency attended site to carry out acceptance checks on the 041, and to present Draken Europe with two plaques to commemorate our supporting and maintenance of these aircraft over the years.

We are grateful to have been awarded these plaques for our maintenance services, proud of the teams that delivered them to a continuous high-standard, and sorry to see these two aircraft go after what has been an incredibly positive relationship with the Royal Norwegian Air Force.