ILA 2022: NHI moves to increase NH90 availability

The German military is a major operator of the NH90 (seen at ILA 2022), and having suffered poor availability rates in the past, it is looking to increase the type's flying hours through improved support from the manufacturer. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

NHIndustries (NHI) and its Airbus Helicopters primary stakeholder have introduced a series of measures designed to increase the availability of the NH90 rotorcraft, at the same time as speeding up the various retrofit programmes for its customers.

Speaking to Janes and other defence media ahead of the ILA Berlin Air Show, Nathalie Tarnaud-Laude, head of the NH90 programme at Airbus Helicopters and NHI, noted the efforts are continuing to turnaround the poor availability figures that have been experienced across of a number of the helicopter's 14 national customers.

“While we have a great aircraft and deliveries are progressing well, I think we all know that it is not flying enough [because of poor availability],” Tarnaud-Laude said, adding, “To try and address this, we launched at the beginning of 2021 a major transformation plan, which is built around 22 initiatives.” These include eight initiatives that are dedicated to product support; four to scheduling, vendor management, supply chain, and retrofits; four to commercial operations; and six to the wider organisation, she explained.