Fresh from securing production commitments from the four partner nations, NH Industries will use Farnborough 2000 to push for export sales of the NH90 naval helicopter. Top of the priority list is the Nordic Standard Helicopter Programme (NSHP) and its requirement for 50-100 machines.
The company raised the stakes in the run-up to the Show by offering Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden parallel delivery of the initial production NH90s in an attempt to trump competing bids.
Political commitment to buy an initial batch of 298 aircraft by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, announced at the end of June, is seen as a vital building block for future sales elsewhere.
But the NH90 will face fierce competition from, among others, EH Industries with the EH101. Italian manufacturer Agusta has a stake in both ventures and the sight of both 'challengers' side by side in the GKN Westland/Agusta static display might raise one or two eyebrows.
To make the NH90 more attractive, a deal has been agreed whereby France will produce all export versions as the French don't receive their first NH90s until 2005/6. NHI chiefs want to avoid a repeat of the problems in winning export orders for the Franco-German Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter because it was seen as a 'paper aircraft'.
The company has developed two versions of the NH90 - one for transport missions, the other for naval requirements, powered by either twin Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM-322-01/9s or Fiat Avio-GE-MTU GE-T700-T6E1 turboshafts.
Source: Flight Daily News
