Netherlands Resumes Delivery of NH90 Helicopter

Netherlands Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert announced that the delivery of the remaining seven NH Industries (NHI) NH90 helicopters has resumed, which were suspended in June due to major problems with wear and corrosion in the delivered aircraft.

 

New agreements with the manufacturer give the Minister enough confidence to allow deliveries to resume.

 

Defense and the manufacturer have extensively analyzed the problems with the NH90. The solutions are now finalized in a so-called Roadmap. The principle is that the manufacturer is responsible for the problems with the aircraft. The company also assumes full costs incurred for the development of modifications; repair of corrosion damage and for designing preventive measures.

 

Excessive corrosion has caused problems with the implementation of the NH90 program. Over 100 points have been identified that contribute to this. For 75 of these points, solutions have now been found. For the remaining 25, the manufacturer will explore fixes during the planned deep maintenance of an NH90, in the first half of 2015.

 

The agreement between the Ministry and the helicopter manufacturer has also established how problems are dealt with in the future. There remains the scope to propose solutions for any new corrosion problems, adding their solutions to the Roadmap.