Turgis Gaillard

Turgis Gaillard is a French aeronautics and defence group that designs, makes and qualifies aircraft and systems for the French armed forces and their allies. It also maintains aircraft, vehicles and industrial sites in France and abroad. The group was founded in 2011 and works in three business areas, which are aeronautics, space and defence, industrial maintenance, and vehicle maintenance.

The group began as a design office. Its first project was the Gerfaut system, which gives digital close air support by fitting a stand-off weapon on a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. It then bought production firms. In 2015 it acquired Sefiam, a metalwork maker that built ground support equipment for military aircraft. In 2016 it bought a machining firm founded in 1927 that makes aeronautical parts. Maintenance firms followed in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2024.

Aircraft maintenance is handled by a subsidiary, Blois Aéro Services, based at Blois-Le Breuil airfield since 2003. It has three hangars that total 2,400 square metres. One is for civil aircraft, one is for military aircraft, and one is for special projects. The team works on business jets such as the Cessna Citation, and single-engine aircraft such as the Pilatus PC-6, Piper PA-46 Meridian and the Daher TBM family. It also works on twin-engine types, including the Beechcraft King Air 90 and 200, Beechcraft 1900, De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and Piper PA-42 Cheyenne.

The subsidiary has an avionics workshop and an engine shop with deep skill on Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6 turboprops. It does line maintenance, equipment maintenance, repairs and modifications. It is a Black Hawk authorised agent for engine upgrade supplemental type certificates, and a Garmin and S-TEC authorised dealer for glass cockpits and autopilots. Staff have converted a Twin Otter into an amphibious aircraft. Two technicians stand by for aircraft-on-ground calls anywhere in the world, and the team has travelled to countries such as Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Turkmenistan.

Blois Aéro Services holds CAMO approval for airworthiness oversight and Part 145 approval for civil aircraft maintenance. It also holds EMAR 145 approval for military aircraft maintenance. Since January 2023 it has held the through-life support contract for the French Army's PC-6 aircraft, awarded by the French state aircraft maintenance department.

The group also builds products. These include the AAROK medium-altitude UAV, the NITRATHE ISR pod, the ODIN airborne communications node, ground support equipment, tooling and aircraft parts. Its industrial arm does boilermaking, welding, piping and machinery work at industrial and military sites, and it holds ISO 9001, ISO 45001 and MASE approvals. The group has seven sites.

Services

• Aircraft maintenance and modification
• Avionics retrofit
• Engine modification and PT6 support
• Airworthiness oversight
• Aircraft design
• Ground support equipment
• Military contractor services
• Tooling and aircraft parts
• Industrial services
• Ground vehicle maintenance