NHIndustries had a very hectic end to 2006!
Following the first 3 NH90 deliveries on 13th December 2006 to the German Army Aviation (See PR n° 62), a major new commercial event took place on 28th December when...
Spain ordered 45 NH90
The formal signature of the contract took place exactly 6 days after the Spanish government announced the authorization to acquire 45 NH90 - Tactical Transport Helicopter version (TTH) to modernize the existing Ministry of Defence fleet of medium-size helicopters.
NHIndustries the Company owned by AgustaWestland (32%), Eurocopter (62,5%), and Stork Fokker (5,5%) ensures the industrial programme management of the twin-engine, medium-size NH90 helicopter. This last generation helicopter is equipped with full glass cockpit, Fly-by-Wire control system and advanced Automatic Flight Control System to-gether with state-of-the-art Communication, Navigation and Mission Equipment. The NH90 is an extremely capable helicopter featuring a modern damage tolerant design, a large cabin volume with two wide sliding cargo doors and a ramp. In its TTH version, the NH90 can lift up to 20 fully equipped troops strapped on to their individual crashworthy seats and can be quickly adapted to MEDEVAC / CASEVAC missions by fitting up to 12 stretchers or cargo delivery capability (Internal: 2,500 kg / External: 4,000 kg) providing thus highly valuable support notably to Disaster Relief operations all around the world.
The Spanish NH90 helicopters will be assembled in Spain at the new Eurocopter España facility located in Albacete, the inauguration of which is foreseen to occur within the first quarter this year.
NHIndustries is also pleased to inform that a few days before this commercial event, a further step ahead has been performed on 20th December 2006 with the…
1st Norwegian NFH Taking to the Air
The first Norwegian NH90 - NATO Frigate Helicopter version (NFH) wearing the Customer designation NNWN #01 took off at 03:40 p.m. from Vergiate (Italy), the AgustaWestland’s facility.
This flight lasted about 25 minutes away from the airfield.
Crew reports: “After the take off, we started to check the aircraft with simple maneuvers in hovering, as usual for each first flight. Then, we were so confident of the machine that we decided to fly away for some checks at higher speeds. We were up to 140 knots with-out encountering any unexpected behavior. As a conclusion, the first flight can be considered more than successful.” Norwegian Customer, formally invited to attend the event, was very excited and interpreted this as a very positive signal for the whole Norwegian programme. Industry Teams involved in the NH90 NFH Programme were grateful to receive the Customer’s congratulations for this milestone achievement.
NHIndustries has closed the year with a total of 88 NH90 sold in 2006, confirming the worldwide commercial success of this state-of-the-art medium-size, twin-engine and multi-role military helicopter and proudly announces today a backlog of 545 NH90 contracted (445 firm plus 100 options) to equip 18 Armed Forces of 14 countries.
