The Expenditure Review of maintenance of aircraft in the Air Corps was published in July 2006. The main findings of this review were that the efficiency and effectiveness of aircraft maintenance was being compromised by the age and diversity of the fleet that the Air Corps operated over the period of the review.
The ongoing investment in Defence equipment has resulted in significant modernisation of the Air Corps fleet and has resulted in reduced fleet diversity. Very significant improvements in logistical support for the modern aircraft types were put in place as part of the procurement contractual processes. Power by the Hour contracts are in place with Pilatus, Eurocopter, Agusta Westland, Learjet and McAlpines (for the Garda helicopters). These contracts improve the availability of spare parts for maintenance purposes. In two cases, Pilatus and Agusta Westland, the aircraft manufacturers have placed a consignment stock of spares in a bonded store at Baldonnel to maximise logistic efficiency.
The ongoing infrastructure investment programme has seen improvements to the maintenance infrastructure. Other recommendations which focused on organisational matters, have been considered and implemented where appropriate. It is anticipated that all these changes will significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of aircraft maintenance in the Air Corps.