The Boeing Company and AMAS Group of Companies, owners of the Australian College of Kuwait sign an agreement

Chairman of Australian College of Kuwait's (ACK) Board of Trustees, Mr. Abdullah Al Sharhan was quoted as saying, "The ACK Board of Trustees is delighted to see the project with Boeing moving forward. We are confident that the equipment and technology transfer will enhance the learning opportunities offered at ACK, and we are sure that our students will benefit enormously from this significant development".

Boeing's commitment to offset is the result of Kuwait's Ministry of Defense's purchase of 16 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters. Kuwait becomes the seventh international defense force to select the AH-64D and the 11th Apache customer worldwide.

"The Australian College of Kuwait has an outstanding new campus and offers a state of the art training facility," said Marcus Hurley, Boeing Middle East vice president of Business Development - Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "We hope this agreement opens the door in providing students at the Australian College of Kuwait key skills to meet commercial and industry demands."

Boeing will fund a project involving the provision of specialized aviation and engineering equipment, and advanced technology transfer to the ACK, in support of the aviation maintenance and electro-mechanical engineering programs offered by ACK.

The specialized equipment includes: a 737-200 aircraft (without engines) which will be used as a training platform for aviation maintenance programs; hydraulic, pneumatic and fuel test stands, vertical and knee milling machines, avionic test benches; electrical and hydraulic carts, lathes; grinders, welders and other general workshop capital equipment.

The ACK and Boeing extended their thanks to the Ministry of Finance, the Offset Program Department (OPD) and the Ministry of Defense. Boeing representatives also expressed their thanks to Mr. Mazen Madooh, and his staff at the OPD for their ongoing support in progressing this important project. Boeing representatives will be visiting the ACK campus regularly over the next 24 months, enabling ACK staff and students to benefit from their world-class equipment and the expertise associated with the technology transfer.

The project is an excellent example of how international companies can meet the objectives of the offset program by injecting capital, equipment and technology transfer into the development of the education and training sector to produce highly skilled technicians for the Kuwait civil and defense industries.

The ACK operates from a purpose-built campus in Mishref, Kuwait, attracting students from throughout the Gulf Region and offers a state of the art training facility from which to deliver a wide range of training programs.

The Boeing Company has more than 40 other offset programs in over 25 different countries, making it the world leader in developing and implementing industrial participation programs.