Will New Zealand continue using the NH90?
Until now the NHIndustries NH90 has not developed into the success story it was supposed to have been. A number of its military users have obviously lost their faith in the European helicopter design.
On 10 December 2021 Scramble reported on the Australian decision to withdraw their MRH90 Taipans ten years earlier than expected. The type entered the Australian Army service in 2008 and, despite its speed, range, and troop capacity performance advantages over the Black Hawk it replaced, has been plagued with poor availability and a number of fleet-wide groundings in Australian service. According to Australian sources these problems were caused by a lack of spares and configuration management issues.
More recently, on 22 March 2023 Australian Army Aviation Corps (AAAC) NHIndustries NH90 MRH Taipan A40-025 made a forced landing in Jervis Bay off New South Wales during a night time antiterrorist exercise. This accident has speeded up the replacement of the NH90 by US manufactured UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters.
It was around a year ago, on 10 June 2022, that Scramble posted on the situation in Norway, a country which instantly stopped operating the NH90 at that time. Since then Norway wants USD 500 Million refund from NHIndustries (NHI). Sweden has announced that it is bound to follow its neighbor country in retiring the NH90. Unlike Norway, Sweden has envisaged a gradual withdrawal of the NH90 from use in 2024 with the entire fleet retired by 2030. Both countries have decided that the NH90 is definitely not able to meet the needs of the Armed Forces.
France and Germany are said to have changed the NH90 maintenance scheme trying to keep theirs in the air longer. And the list is not complete without Belgium: the country wants to replace its army NH90TTHs by Airbus H145Ms.
Australia’s neighbour, New Zealand on the other hand has been quite satisfied as they are getting acceptable flying time from their eight NH90s. However the situation can change. The decision to select the NH90 at time was partly influenced by the fact that Australia chose the type, making future modifications easier (and cheaper) and ensure interoperability. Now Australia has decided to say goodbye to its NH90s, one wonders what New Zealand will do. This especially in respect to the future replacement of New Zealand’s Kaman Seasprite Naval helicopters.
Photo: NHIndustries