The Norwegian army hoped for an annual flight time of 3,900 hours, but in reality it caps at 700, according to the ministry. NH90 Norwegians were intended for coast guard and underwater control missions.
Le Monde with AP, AFP and Reuters
“We have a helicopter that does not work as he should,” said General Eirik Kristoffersen, who heads the Norwegian army. Exasperated by delivery delays and availability problems, Norway announced, Friday, June 10, the cancellation of a contract of 14 NH90 military transport helicopters with the European industrial consortium NH Industries (NHI), whose headquarters are in Aix-en-Provence.
Despite an order placed more than twenty years ago, Oslo stressed that he had received only eight fully operational copies of the aircraft built by NHI held at 62.5 % by Airbus Helicopters, at 32 % by the Italian Leonardo and 5.5 % by the Dutchman Fokker Aerostructures. The Norwegian government will make the 13 helicopters already delivered and also calls for reimbursement of 5 billion crowns (around 500 million euros), he announced during a Press conference .
“Unfortunately, we have come to the conclusion that, whatever the number of hours worked by our technicians and the number of spare parts ordered, this will not make the NH90 capable of meeting the needs of the army Norwegian, “said Defense Minister Bjorn Arrild Gram. His ministry will start “quickly” a process to identify an alternative model, said the government in a press release.
reliability problems
This cancellation is a new setback for the NH90 after the early retirement of the model in the Australian army, announced in December 2021, for the benefit of the UH-60M Black Hawk of the American Sikorsky.
In addition to delivery delays – the order initially provided for a delivery of the 14 copies in 2008 – the Norwegian army denounced problems of reliability, maintenance and obsolescence of parts.
The Norwegian army hoped for an annual flight time of 3,900 hours but, in reality, it caps at 700, according to the ministry. NH90 Norwegians were intended for coast guard and underwater control missions.
In a press release , nhi wrote that the Norwegian government’s decision to cancel this contract was” without legal basis “and declared be “extremely disappointed”.