On Monday 22 September a representative of Boeing presented Thales Nederland the silver award as preferred supplier. Quite an honour as not many companies are found on the Boeing list of preferred suppliers. The ranking  'silver' makes it even more impressive, as the 'bronze' award (the standard first step for new suppliers) was skipped. The Boeing auditors who scrutinized Thales Nederland during a considerable period of time were impressed by the production facilities and the procedures for permanently improving quality and delivery reliability aspects. Thales Nederland and Boeing are partners presently in a number of programs of which the Sideloader for the Apache combat helicopters is the best-known.