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...you'll find the rest at http://www.shephardmedia.com/news/rotor ... 90-delays/A delay in the delivery of four NFH NH90 helicopters to meet the Belgian search and rescue (SAR) requirement has compromised the government’s plans to retire its fleet of ageing Sea Kings on-schedule.
In 2007 the Belgian armed forces ordered eight NH90s from NHIndustries - four in tactical transport configuration (TTH) and four in a NATO frigate helicopter version (NFH).
Delivery of the NFH NH90s was slated to commence in 2011, however NHI pushed this back by two years. As a consequence, the planned phase-out of the 40-year-old Sea Kings is likely to be delayed till 2016.
Speaking at the Search & Rescue 2013 conference in Brighton on 5 June, Lt Col Peter Van Den Broucke, base commander of Koksijde Airbase, revealed that the service life of the Sea Kings was now being stretched to the limit.
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