Leonardo, after Norway, Sweden also wants to abandon the NH90 program
Sweden follows Norway: the country intends to cancel the contract for the purchase of NH90 helicopters with Nh Industries (Leonardo, Airbus and Fokker)
Bad news from Sweden for the NH90 program.
The Scandinavian country has decided to cancel the contract for military helicopters with Nh Industries (a French company composed of Leonardo, Airbus and Fokker). On November 1, the Chief of Staff of the Swedish Armed Forces, General Micael Byden, announced that the country was canceling the agreement to purchase NH90 helicopters, following problems with the availability of the aircraft, Flight Global reports.
The Swedish Air Force (SwAF) currently has 18 NH90 helicopters in service.
Stockholm thus follows the Oslo decision last June. In fact, Norway will not only return the NH90 helicopters received so far but will also ask for the reimbursement of 5 billion Norwegian crowns, approximately 0.5 billion euros, plus interest. But Nh Industries will oppose Norway's decision to return the previously ordered NH90 helicopters. This is what emerged from the note on the results of Leonardo's first half of the year, published on July 28 by the group led by Alessandro Profumo.
In place of the NH90, the head of the Swedish armed forces proposed to purchase an additional batch of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from American Sikorsky, controlled by Lockheed Martin. This is yet another setback for the NH90. In December 2020, the Australian army had already announced the early withdrawal from the model in favor of the Black Hawk.
All the details.
THE POSITION OF AIRBUS, LEADER OF NHI
"Although the Swedish NH90s have achieved above average availability rates of similar helicopter types, particularly for the naval version, the available fleet size has been temporarily reduced in recent years due to the retrofit and upgrade program agreed with the Swedish Armed Forces, which has been underway since 2017 and is expected to reach completion by the end of 2023, ”said an Airbus spokesperson in a statement echoed by Breaking Defense . During the "last few months" Airbus has also proposed to Sweden "additional measures" to increase the availability of the NH90 fleet and reduce operating costs, according to the spokesperson.
SWEDEN LIKE NORWAY
The decision by the chief of staff of the Swedish armed forces, subject to government approval, puts the country in line with its future NATO ally, Norway, which on 10 June concluded its contract for 14 NH90 aircraft.
THE OSLO DECISION
In 2001 Norway ordered 14 NH90 helicopters for coast guard duties and anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Delivery was initially planned by the end of 2008, but so far the country has received only 8 helicopters in a fully operational configuration.
As Leonardo also points out in his note "The contract has been subject to extensions and amendments over the years and its conclusion was expected by the end of 2023".
MA last June the Norwegian Defense Minister, Bjørn Arild Gram, announced the decision to terminate the contract for the Navy's NH90 helicopters.
Specifically, “the request of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense Agency (NDMA) is to return the n. 13 helicopters already delivered and accepted and request the reimbursement of the sums disbursed including interest (having also submitted a request for enforcement, for the portion of guarantees still pending, against contractual advances disbursed) ”refers the note from Leonardo.
THE NH90 PROGRAM
NHIndustries is the largest helicopter joint venture in European history. The consortium is responsible for the design, production and support of the NH90, Europe's leading helicopter program. The joint venture is made up of Airbus Helicopters (62.5%), Leonardo (32%) and GKN Fokker (5.5%).
THE CONTRIBUTION OF LEONARDO
As part of the NH90, Leonardo is responsible or significantly contributes to the design, production and / or integration of a wide range of critical helicopter systems and components, the note reads. These include the tail section of the fuselage; the transmission, the hydraulic system, the autopilot, the mission system of the naval variant, the integration of the propulsion system and the final assembly of the TTH (land) and NFH (naval) variants for various customers at the Venice plant Card.
To date, Nhi has delivered nearly 430 helicopters, of which about 100 in naval version, to operators in different countries. The helicopters in service have accumulated over 265,000 hours of flight on mission, in any climatic condition, both in land and sea.
WHAT THE NHI CONSORTIUM WILL DO
While waiting to understand if the Stockholm government will approve the defense's decision, in the meantime Oslo will not be so easy to get out of the contract with Nhi.
"NHI considers this termination for default request to be legally unfounded and reasonably contestable in the appropriate fora due to lack of factual and legal bases and for incorrect interpretation of the contract and of Norwegian law, as well as for violation of confidentiality obligations" reads the report of the first 9 months of Leonardo's year.
“With the aforementioned termination request, NDMA promoted the enforcement of the residual bank guarantees issued by Leonardo on behalf of NHI for a total of € mil. 69.7 (including interest of € mil. 19.3). It should be noted that Leonardo's share of the commitment is proportional to its investment in the initiative – approximately 41% – and, therefore, equal to a total of € mil. 28.7 (including interest of € 7.9m). In September 2022, the process for the enforcement of the first tranche was completed, for a total of € mil. 8.8; for the remaining guarantees subject to enforcement, equal to a total of € mil. 60.9, the verification process by the institution guaranteeing the adequacy of the documentation presented by NDMA is still in progress ”, reads Leonardo's report.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/leonardo-dopo-la-norvegia-anche-la-svezia-vuole-abbandonare-il-programma-nh90/ on Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:21:52 +0000.