Partners Looking at Two-Year Delay in Naval NH90

While Eurocopter and its partners AgustaWestland and Stork Fokker Aerospace are making program in getting the tactical transport version of the NH90 certified and delivered, the maritime version “is another story,” Eurocopter President and CEO Lutz Bertling told Rotor & Wing. The NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) has had “a well-known problem with the mission system,” Bertling said. “The radar is not meeting specified performance levels.” The problems are pushing initial deliveries to France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway to the second half of 2009, more than two years late. “In addition to the radar problems, we also have very complex acceptance procedures,” he said, “with industry partners from four nations and official services from four nations that have to agree on everything.” Still, Bertling said, the NH90 is a cash- and earnings-positive program.