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Lufthansa Technik is preparing to ramp up its defense activities as Germany starts introducing into service a range of new aircraft and the company sets its sights on additional wins in the sector.
The company, best known for maintaining commercial airliners, about seven years ago embarked on expanding the work it does in the defense arena, in part to help Germany boost low utilization rates of its military aircraft. That initiative got a massive boost when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 spurred a German defense reawakening and a large inflow of money.
“That was the biggest tailwind you could imagine,” says Michael von Puttkamer, vice president of Special Aircraft & Defense at Lufthansa Technik.
Now the company is a partner on multiple key German military modernization programs. It is working with Hensoldt and Bombardier on the Pegasus signals intelligence aircraft using a modified Global 6000, the Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, the Lockheed Martin F-35, and the Boeing CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter.
And the company has its eyes on more, von Puttkamer indicated. Hensoldt is trying to win a contract for a German air force standoff jamming aircraft where Lufthansa Technik could have a role, and a German purchase of airborne early warning aircraft could also generate new business.
One of the milestone developments as part of the defense push was becoming involved in the P-8A program, with the first couple of eight ordered now delivered. Lufthansa Technik does the maintenance of the aircraft, drawing on its decades of experience servicing 737s.
But what makes the P-8A different is not just its military role, but that it can employ munitions. “It is the first time for Lufthansa Technik to have a real weapon-carrying system in our hangars,” von Puttkamer said.
When the company embarked on the project, it first consulted its workers council, where some employees bristled at the idea of doing this kind of military work, von Puttkamer said. But that changed with the Ukraine-Russia war, and now the defense activities have some of the highest application rates, he says.
The company says it has a triple-digit number of people working on its defense activities. That number will go up, von Puttkamer says, as the German customer starts introducing into service the new platforms and other opportunities emerge either at home or abroad.
On Pegasus, where Hensoldt sees the local order growing and export potential, Lufthansa Technik is doing the aircraft modification. The goal is to hand over the first aircraft to the Luftwaffe for an initial capability next year. That will also require certification work, which is largely being done to commercial standards, with some military-specific approvals needed.
Lufthansa Technik is also part of the German industrial team to support the F-35s, including companies such as Rheinmetall and Hensoldt. But exactly what the work will entail is still not defined.
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