Norway has resumed acceptance activities related to the NH Industries (NHI) NH90, as it readies to take delivery of its 12th example later this year.
Shipments had been paused since March 2020, mainly due to staff restrictions imposed by Norway as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but also to accommodate additional requests from the customer.
But an acceptance team from the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency returned to the Tessera final assembly facility near Venice in Italy on 20 April.
Ground runs on the helicopter – in a final operating configuration (FOC) for anti-submarine warfare missions – were conducted on 23 April, followed by a first acceptance flight five days later.
Both parties hope to conclude the process to allow service entry ahead of the “summer break”.
Norway has a total of 14 NH90s on order and the remaining three examples are due to be shipped this year.
Additionally, retrofit activities on six examples, raising them to the FOC standard, are under way at Tessera.
Norway currently plans to employ all its NH90s for anti-submarine warfare missions, shifting across those previously allocated for coastguard operations and covering that capability gap with leased helicopters.
