Julian Moxon/PARIS
The surprise election of a left-wing government in the recent French elections has left the country's defence industry in a state of uncertainty, with several major programmes, outlined by the previous government in its 1997-2002 Loi de Programmation spending plan, up for review.
One programme whose future now seems more, rather than less, secure, however, is that of the NHIndustries (NHI) NH90 transport helicopter. With four participating nations (France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) and a requirement for 647 machines, it is not only Europe's biggest-ever collaborative helicopter project, but it falls in line with the new French Government's desire to pursue European programmes as a way of limiting expenditure and promoting the survival of the French aerospace industry.
The NH90 is now well into its planned development phase, with the second prototype - and the first to be equipped with a fly-by-wire flight-control system - having been flown for the first time on 19 March. This followed the successful, and continuing, flight tests of the first, conventionally controlled machine, which by mid-June had undergone more than 103 flights, lasting a total of 110h.
The ECU1.37 billion ($1.54 billion) ten-year fixed-price NH90 full scale development contract was signed in September 1992, with France providing ECU583.07 million (ECU161.24 million of which is financed by industry), Germany ECU331 million (ECU74.59 million from industry), Italy ECU 370 million and the Netherlands ECU92.08 million (ECU2.65 million from industry).
Based in Aix-en-Provence, NHI is the prime contractor for design, development, industrialisation, production, logistic support, marketing and sales of the NH90. It answers to the Nato Helicopter Management Agency (NAEHMA), constituted in February 1992 and responsible for ensuring that the programme meets the requirements of the four partners.
The design and development phase now in progress gives France (through Eurocopter France) 41.5% of the responsibility, Eurocopter Germany 23.7%, Agusta 28.2% and Fokker Aviation 6.5%. These proportions may bear little relation to the final production offtake, however, which has already been through several iterations in the short life of the programme, notably in the reduction of France's requirement and an increase in Italy's. The latest situation foresees France taking 160 aircraft (against the previous figure of 220) Germany 243, Italy 224 (up from 214) and the Netherlands 20 - but this is highly likely to change yet again as spending priorities are evaluated.
Complex delivery
The delivery plan is necessarily complex, with the Netherlands sticking to its urgent requirement for service entry of the first of its 20 NH90 NATO frigate helicopters (NFHs), the only type it is taking, at the beginning of 2003. Germany, also, wants the first eight of a total of 205 tactical transport helicopters (TTHs) delivered in early 2003, and the initial two of 38 NFHs delivered in 2007. The French navy is due to receive the first three of 27 NFHs in 2005, and the first five of 133 TTHs in 2011, while Italy wants delivery of six of 81 NFHs in 2004, and six of 143 TTHs the same year.
Near- term hopes centre on the opening of negotiations in July with the armaments directors of the four partners for tooling and production of up to 240 NH90s. "We have been asked to prepare two offers: one for the cost of tooling up for production; the second for production, plus the first batch," says NHI president Jean-Pierre Barthelemy.
The production phase is likely to cost around half as much as the design and development phase, which is now about three-quarters of the way to completion. France recently paid up its share of the programme following a complaint from Eurocopter that it was having to fund France's share of the project itself. "We're past the peak spending period and we do not expect any further problems with stage payments," says Barthelemy.
NHIis in the final stage of recalculating the unit cost of the two versions of the NH90, based on France's reduced requirement, the addition of a rear ramp to the Army TTH version, and inflation since 1994, when the army version was priced at ECU14 million, and the navy version at ECU22 million. The new prices are expected to show an increase of "a few percent", says NHI marketing manager Alain Gauthier.
Studies continue into the number of production lines that will be required for the NH90, but Barthelemy confirms that a single line is "unlikely", because of the potential need to sustain a production rate of up to six aircraft a month, which would require at least two lines, installed in France, Germany or Italy.
NHI says that it is "entertaining top-level contacts" with the UK Ministry of Defence on possible UK entry into the production phase of the programme, on the basis of its requirements for the future amphibious-support helicopter and future support-helicopter programmes, due for service entry in 2008 and 2010, respectively. "The talks are preliminary and totally non-committed," says Barthelemy. "The door is open to enlarge the discussions, but only for involvement in the production-investment and serial-production phases."
Source: Flight International
