---
title: When Readiness is Decided in the Hangar
description: Europe’s rearmament goes beyond new aircraft acquisitions. Discover why aircraft readiness and sustainment are key to turning defence investment into capability.
image: https://blog.terma.com/hubfs/Defence-Aviation-Service-Announcement_600x320px.jpg
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# When Readiness is Decided in the Hangar
When Europe talks about rearmament, the conversation tends to centre on new acquisitions such as fighter jets, drones and helicopters. Far less is said about what happens to those aircraft once they arrive. Yet that question will decide how much of Europe's investment actually turns into capability.
Written by: [Christoffer Brinks](https://blog.terma.com/author/christoffer-brinks)
### What MRO Actually Involves
Behind every aircraft that takes off lies a steady rhythm of maintenance, repair and overhaul, usually shortened to MRO. Maintenance covers the routine inspections and servicing that keep an aircraft airworthy from day to day. Repair deals with damage and faults as they occur. Overhaul is the heavy work: taking engines, components and structures apart at set intervals, restoring them and returning them to service. Alongside this comes airworthiness management, the documentation and control that ensures every aircraft is safe and approved to fly.
The workload is considerable. Depending on aircraft type, age and how it is flown, every hour in the air can require anywhere from a few to several dozen hours of maintenance on the ground, split between planned work such as inspections and scheduled overhauls, and unplanned work when components fail or damage occurs. Newer aircraft are designed to need less, but they also bring more complex systems that demand specialised skills. Every hour an aircraft spends in maintenance is an hour it cannot fly a mission.
### Who keeps the Aircraft Flying Today
In Denmark, MRO on major weapons systems and other equipment has historically been carried out in-house by the armed forces themselves. That model is under pressure. Ageing fleets need more intensive maintenance as they near the end of their service life, while new platforms arrive with increasingly complex systems. At the same time, trained technicians are in short supply across the sector, something the Danish Air Force has experienced first-hand over the years.
Modern fighters have also changed how maintenance is organised. The F-35 is supported through a global sustainment network, where specialised depots in different countries maintain engines, components and airframes for several nations. Where that capacity sits matters. In a crisis, allies will need their aircraft at the same moment, and capacity far from home can quickly become a bottleneck.
### Why Industry has a Role to Play
This is where industry can make a difference. Specialised MRO providers can take on the heavy and recurring work, freeing military technicians to concentrate on operations. Industry can also invest in facilities, approvals and training over the long term, and spread that investment across several customers and countries operating the same aircraft.
Elsewhere in the Nordic region, this is already well established. Norway and Finland both make extensive use of industry to maintain their military equipment. In Finland, Millog is the Finnish Defence Forces' chosen maintenance provider, while in Norway, [Kongsberg Aviation Maintenance Services](https://kongsbergams.com/) (KAMS) maintains and upgrades the country's F-16 and F-35 fleets. The result is national capacity that the armed forces can draw on, built and sustained by industry.
### A Nordic Answer: Defence Aviation Services
It is against this background that Terma and KAMS have launched [Defence Aviation Services](https://defenceaviationservices.com/), a Danish-Norwegian joint venture that will carry out maintenance, repair and overhaul of military aircraft in Denmark. Its scope spans fighter aircraft, drones, helicopters, maritime patrol and transport aircraft, and the company will also provide airworthiness management, fleet sustainment and lifecycle support to national armed forces and the defence companies that build their platforms.
The idea is to combine KAMS' decades of maintenance experience with Terma's long experience supporting the Danish Armed Forces, and to build the capability around aircraft that Denmark, Norway and their allies increasingly share, including the F-35. That also means developing the engineers and technicians of the future, which is why the company is offering apprenticeships, training and long-term career paths.
Every aircraft Europe buys comes with decades of maintenance attached. Deciding now who will carry out that work, and where, is what turns today's investments into capability that lasts. Defence Aviation Services is one answer to that question.
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