Norway and military helicopter manufacturer NH Industries (NHI) are heading for a court showdown after mediation failed to resolve a long-running contract dispute.
The pair have been at loggerheads since Oslo’s decision in June 2022 to cancel its contract with NHI for 14 NH90 maritime helicopters after repeated delivery delays.
Norway has been seeking a full refund for the helicopters, a claim disputed by NHI – a joint venture between Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo and GKN/Fokker.
Although both sides had hoped to resolve the dispute through negotiation, Axel Aloccio, president of NHI and head of the NH90 programme at Airbus Helicopters, told journalists in Marseille on 8 October that “mediation failed”.
“We tried to find an agreement and could not – now we are going to court,” he says, noting that the process will begin with a mandatory round of mediation.
While declining to discuss the dispute – NHI is also counter-suing the Norwegian government – Aloccio says the legal action is scheduled to get under way next year.
The helicopters have not flown since the contract was cancelled and are in storage at the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s Bardufoss base.
Norway’s FMV defence materiel agency confirms it has initiated legal action against NHI and its parent companies but declines to comment further.
But the issues at the heart of the dispute are disclosed in documents relating to Norway’s 2025 budget, which were published on 7 October.
It says the contract was terminated following “extensive delays and shortfalls in deliveries”, including the late-running upgrade of six helicopters that had been handed over in an interim standard.
Multiple renegotiations of the original 2001 contract had taken place in a bid to overcome the delays, says the budget document, resulting in an agreement in 2017 that deliveries of new NH90s in a final operational configuration would be completed in 2019, and the upgrade work finished by 2022.
“Again, significant delays occurred in relation to the delivery schedule,” it says.
“NHI has contested that there are grounds for terminating the contract and a legal process has been initiated to clarify the final outcome of the case,” the document adds.
In all, Norway budgeted NKr10.2 billion ($951 million) – including tax and provision for contingencies – for the acquisition, spending just over half of that total. “The final financial outcome depends on the legal process,” the budget document adds.
Norway purchased six of the NH90s for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions and eight for operation in support of its coastguard.
Since axing the contract with NHI, Oslo has moved to acquire six Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawks for coastguard support through the USA’s Foreign Military Sales process.
Approval for the sale, with an estimated cost of $1 billion, was granted in April 2023.
Oslo expects the new helicopters to be introduced over the 2026-2030 period. In the interim, Norwegian personnel are training with current MH-60R operator Denmark “in order to gain experience with the MH-60R Seahawk and maintain expertise in maritime helicopter operations”.
New ASW helicopters will ultimately also be acquired but no decision has so far been taken on the type.
Meanwhile, the defence ministry is conducting a preliminary investigation into the potential acquisition of new rotorcraft to support the country’s special forces and army as a long-term replacement for its Bell 412 fleet.
An upgrade of the legacy fleet is under way “to extend the life of the helicopters until new helicopters are acquired and implemented”, says the budget document.
However, parliamentary approval will still be needed for the planned purchase of new helicopters.
