The NH Industries NH90 has been cleared to begin providing training for French crews at Le Luc air base in Provence.
The ready-for-training milestone was declared in mid-May, clearing the way for joint training for French army and navy students to begin before the end of the month, says Col Arvind Badrinath, NH90 programme manager for France's DGA defence procurement agency.
Training infrastructure is already in place at Le Luc, along with an initial pool of four NH90s, Badrinath said during a media briefing at Eurocopter's Marignane final assembly facility on 17 May. "There will be 70 trainees from next week onwards," he said.
France has so far ordered a total of 61 NH90s: 34 tactical transports and 27 naval examples.
Source: Flight International
