NATO's NAMSA Signs Logistic Support Cooperation MoU With Israel

28-Nov-2007 14:20

The NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency's (NAMSA) main task is to assist NATO nations by organizing common procurement and supply of spare parts and arranging maintenance and repair services necessary for the support of various weapon systems, with the purpose of achieving maximum effectiveness in logistics support at minimum cost.

NAMSA operates on the no profit, no loss principle. It is overseen by the NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO), formed by 26 NATO nations (Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States).

NATO nations across the alliance currently operate Israeli equipment, and the MoU allows group buys from Israeli industry. Currently, NAMSA has to go through a lengthy authorization process to acquire spares and services, and it is expected that the MOU will greatly simplify this process. In addition, the MOU offers an opportunity for Israel to cooperate in the domain of Trust Fund demilitarization projects where NAMSA is the Executing Agent. NAMSA release.

NAMSA assistance is available whenever two or more nations operate the same system, and have made a conscious decision to use NAMSA. Most of these logistics services are outsourced to industry; the Agency's main role is in consolidating nations' requirements, centralizing logistics management activities, conducting international competitive bidding processes and controlling the cost and quality of the services rendered to customers.

Israel is the second Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) nation to sign an MOU with NAMSA. Jordan signed an MoU focused on unexploded munitions demilitarization on April 25/07, following lengthy delays ramping up NAMSA cooperation with "Mediterranean Dialogue" countries.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/natos-namsa-signs-mou-with-israel-04294/