Norway Ministry of Defence, PARIS: NHIndustries and its Partner Companies, AgustaWestland – Eurocopter – Stork Fokker, are proud to announce the first delivery of its serial production NH90 to FMV (Swedish Defence Materiel Administration) today on the occasion of Paris Air Show 2007.
During the ceremony Gala Gonçalves, General Manager of NHIndustries, under-lined the importance of this event, which represents a major step since it is the first serial NH90 transfer of ownership to an Export Customer.
To be reminded that the first four serial production NH90 were delivered to Germany (a founding Nation of the NH90 Programme) starting in December 2006.
Sweden, Finland and Norway gathered under a common acquisition programme, Nordic Standard Helicopter Programme (NSHP), selected the NH90 as their future multi-role helicopter.
Out of a NSHP total acquisition of 52 NH90 plus 17 options, Sweden has ordered on 26 September 2001, 18 firm NH90 of which 13 are dedicated to Tactical Troop Transport (TTT) / Search and Rescue (SAR) missions and 5 to Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) missions. An additional 7 options were contracted derived from the NAHEMA TTH version. All the helicopters ordered by Sweden will be equipped with the new Tactical Mission System (TMS) developed by SAAB, the major industrial group of Sweden. The integration of the TMS to the Swedish NH90 is performed by integrated multi-national joint teams EC/ SAAB in Marignane.
In addition to the NH90 now famous outstanding features (full Fly-By-Wire flight control sys-tem, full composite crashworthy airframe, full aircraft/avionics/mission system integration and state-of-the-art system suite), all NH90 ordered by FMV will be fitted with a higher cabin in order to optimize upright SAR operations and to improve CARGO/ MEDEVAC/ CASEVAC capabilities.
Tribute can be rendered to Sweden which is thus the launch customer of the High Cabin Version (HCV) of the NH90. With 24 additional centimetres, the NH90 HCV offers a cargo volume increased by 2.5 additional cubic meters for a total of 17.50 cubic meters. The 1.82 m overall height allows cabin medical attendants to perform their mission within a highly comfortable environment.
The twin-engine, medium-size NH90 helicopter is provided by the consortium NHIndustries, the Company owned by AgustaWestland (32%), Eurocopter (62.5%), and Stork Fokker (5.5%).
The NH90 helicopter programme is the largest ever launched in Europe, with firm orders now reaching 495 units plus 60 options to equip and modernize the Armed Forces of France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Oman, Australia, New-Zealand, Spain and Belgium.
Final negotiation steps are yet under process with several other Defence Forces to secure contracts concerning additional NH90, both in the Tactical Transport and Naval versions. To date, after the first four German NH90s, this first Swedish helicopter brings the total of delivered NH90s to 5.
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