NHIndustries NH90


The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized European twin-engine multi-role military helicopter. It was the first production helicopter to feature entirely fly-by-wire flight controls. It makes extensive use of composite materials and electronic sensors. The helicopter has two primary models: the Tactical Transport Helicopter, oriented towards land applications ; and the NATO Frigate Helicopter, oriented towards naval use in contexts such as anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations. Over 600 units have been produced for over a dozen NATO countries as of early 2026, and the model remains in production.
The NH90 was developed in response to North Atlantic Treaty Organization requirements for a battlefield helicopter that would also be capable of operating in naval environments. It was developed and is manufactured by NHIndustries. The first prototype conducted its maiden flight in December 1995, and the type entered operational service in 2007. As of June 2022, the NH90 has logged a combined 327,053 flight hours in the armed forces of thirteen countries.
Despite its advanced features, the program has faced significant criticism and early retirement from some operators, including Norway and Australia, due to chronic delays, maintenance problems, and low operational readiness. In 2022, Norway terminated its NH90 program while demanding a full refund. Australia withdrew the helicopter in 2023, ahead of its planned retirement date of 2037. Currently in the mid-2020s, a dozen countries continue to use the NH90, while additional orders and improvements equate to ongoing and widespread use. Efforts are ongoing to increase roles, administer upgrades, increase service life, and improve ease of maintenance.

Development

Origins

In 1985, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom collaborated to develop a NATO battlefield transport and anti-ship/anti-submarine helicopter for the 1990s. The United Kingdom left the team in 1987. On 1 September 1992, NHIndustries signed an NH90 design-and-development contract with NAHEMA. This agency represented the four participating states: France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Portugal later joined the agency in June 2001. Design work on the helicopter started in 1993. The first prototype, PT1, made the type's first flight on 18 December 1995. The second prototype, PT2, first flew on 19 March 1997 and the third prototype, PT3, on 27 November 1998. On 12 December 2002, PT3 became the first helicopter to fly exclusively with fly-by-wire controls after the removal of mechanical back-up controls.
The NH90 was developed into two main variants: the Tactical Transport Helicopter and the NATO Frigate Helicopter. These two main variants share about 75% commonality with each other. Many of the operators have requested specific configurations for their own helicopter fleets, thus each country's NH90 is effectively customized to the end-user's requirements. During the development phase of the program in the 1990s, both technical and funding problems were experienced. In June 2000, the partner states placed a large production order, worth $8.6 billion USD, for a total of 366 helicopters. Additional orders have since followed from customers in Europe, Asia, and Australia. By April 2013, a total of 529 NH90s of all variants were on order by various customers. As of early 2023, there were 597 on order, and the 500th airframe was delivered at that time.
The NH90 was initially intended to be produced at three exporting final assembly lines : Cascina Costa in Italy for AgustaWestland, Marignane in France, and Donauwörth in Germany for Airbus Helicopters. The Nordic and Australian contracts stipulated production locally. Spain has a final assembly line at Albacete. The Marignane assembly line can reportedly complete up to 22 NH90s per year.
Major components are produced by each of the shareholding companies:
Items built by the shareholding companies are then distributed to the six locations for assembly and flight test.
In late 2006, the German Army, the first customer to receive production aircraft, accepted delivery of its first NH90 TTH. In April 2010, the Royal Netherlands Navy was the first customer to receive the Navy's NH90 NFH variant. In June 2014, the consortium announced that it had completed delivery of the 200th NH90; at that point, the backlog of orders was reported as reaching out to 2020. To alleviate delays and reduce the complexity of manufacturing a large number of NH90 variants, NHIndustries proposed the adoption of a simplified baseline airframe that could be configured to the individual customer's requirements. Between 2004 and 2016, the production lead times for the NH90 had reduced from 18 months to 7.5 months.
In 2014, production of the NH90 peaked at 53 helicopters per year. In October 2015, the delivery of the 250th NH90 was formally accepted by the Italian Army. In 2015, the rate of NH90 production declined, reportedly due to countries choosing to delay their orders and some contracts having been fulfilled; in 2016, the Finnish final assembly line became the first to close with its orders completed. In 2023, the 500th NH90 was delivered to the French Army from the Marignane facility.
Although no US order has been taken, it has been noted that the NH90 could be produced at Airbus' facility in Mississippi, US. Although a civilian version has not been produced, the NH90 was designed from the start to potentially meet FAA certification requirements; it has been speculated that the high-cabin variant already in production would be typical of passenger rotorcraft. If produced, it would fit between the AS365 Dauphin and the AS322 Super Puma in Airbus' product line. NHI studied making a civilian version of the NH90 in 2004.
As of March 2024, 515 airframes had been delivered, including 24 different variants used by 14 countries.

Performance concerns

In 2010, German tabloid Bild reported that German Army experts had concerns that the helicopter was not yet ready for the transportation of combat troops. They stated that the seats were rated for only 110kg, not considered enough for a fully equipped soldier. Heavy infantry weapons could not be adequately secured and the cabin floor was prone to damage, citing an anecdote of damage caused by footwear. The helicopter could only land on firm ground, with obstacles not exceeding 16cm. Troops carrying full equipment could not use the rear ramp due to weight limitations placed on it. Adding a door machine gun was not possible due to space taken by troop ingress and egress; there was also no provision for fast roping or paratrooper equipment. In response, the German Defense Ministry proclaimed that this article referred to a prototype, not to the production model; the specifications for which were not even finalized at the time. The prototype evaluation and its results were described as a normal procedure in an ongoing design process.
In November 2011, the MRH-90 program was placed on the Australian Department of Defence's "Projects of Concern" list. The most serious problem identified by a diagnostic review, which caused a brief grounding in 2010, is compressor blade rubbing caused by the bending of a spool in the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engine due to uneven cooling after shutdown. Other problems identified include failure of transmission oil cooler fans, windscreen cracking, an inertial navigation system that is slow to align, and the weakness of the cabin floor to withstand the impact of soldiers' boots – a problem also encountered in German service.
In March 2014, it was announced that a Dutch NH90 had suffered higher than expected fuselage wear and corrosion following an extended deployment at sea. Analysis by the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory attributed the corrosion to design and assembly flaws. However, the fleet was not grounded. In response, NHIndustries launched a corrosion prevention program and enacted several design modifications. In December 2014, the Dutch NH90 deliveries restarted after the majority of identified points were addressed and an agreement was made by the manufacturer to bear the cost of developing modifications, repairs, and preventive measures against corrosion.

Operational costs

, New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Ministry of Defense put out a press release in 2017 criticizing the high cost of NH90, citing the statistics of 2015: "The NH90s cost $1,182 an hour to fly and that is 2.5 times more expensive than the Iroquois they replaced. They're also unreliable, chewing through $3.3 million worth of spares in just two years."
The operating cost of an NH90 HCV was reported in Swedish media during 2018 as at least 200,000 SEK per hour flown, or about US$28,000. In contrast, the HPK 16, MH-60 Blackhawks in Swedish service had a cost of 40,000 SEK per hour. This difference sparked a heated debate not least since it was revealed that the defense minister had demanded that the purchase had to be a joint procurement with the other Nordic countries which in turn excluded all other contenders. Debate among defense bloggers commenced when it was revealed that much of these costs was the result of the accounting practices forced upon the Swedish defense forces. The purchase cost and annual services had been factored in, meaning that the cost per hour increases the less flight time per year the fleet gets. In this debate, it was also pointed out that the Finnish defense had budgeted CPFH to €15,900 in 2017, which the year after had been lowered to €10,000.
In 2020, the Belgian Ministry of Defence announced a 40% cut to the NH90's annual flight time, stating that, while the Westland Sea Kings retired in 2019 had a cost per flight hour of around €5,000, the NH90 was more than double that at €12,000. per hour. Additionally, the reliability was impacted by a lack of service personnel to keep the fleet flightworthy.
The Australian Parliament released their report "MRH-90 Taipan helicopter: a quick guide" in 2021, detailing problems with the NH90 since 2005 and why they will be replaced. There, the CPFH is listed as "the helicopter's estimated operating costs were $30,000 to $40,000 per hour, which is 'higher than those combat aircraft with sophisticated weapons and sensor systems'. More recently, the cost has increased to $50,000 per hour."
Axel Aloccio, head of NHI since mid-September 2022, believes that most problems stem from the teething issues of a new system that take a few years of service to find and correct, and that most are either solved or will be addressed with the transformation plan called "New Horizon" that Aloccio's predecessor, Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, launched. This program of system-wide changes had the aim of 50–60% average global fleet availability by the end of 2022 through better spare part availability and localization of overhaul services. It also seeks to lower operating costs. The time between maintenance inspections and overhaul for dynamic components have both been raised by 50% to keep them synchronized, from 600/1200 flight hours to 900/1800 hours, respectively. The Australian fleet is to be dismantled for spare parts, which it is hoped will increase the supply of spare parts for other users.