Airbus and Patria delivered the last of 20 NH90 helicopters to Finland during a ceremony at the local assembly facility, the company said Thursday.
“These helicopters are used for various tasks of the Finnish Defense Forces such as national defense, international crisis management and for SAR missions,” Jussi Ristimäki, FDF program manager for the NH90, said in a statement.
Photo: Airbus.
Finland signed a contract with Airbus for 20 TTH versions of the NH90 helicopter in 2001. The first flight for the aircraft was in 2004 at the Airbus Marignane facility. Finland took delivery of the first rotorcraft in 2008 and Patria was responsible for the local assembly of the final 19 helicopters.
The NH90s delivered as of July reached over 7,500 flight hours.
“The delivery of this last serial helicopter is a significant milestone for the Finnish NH90 Program, and now moving forward we will concentrate on the retrofit program, which is already in progress,” Ernst Heckert, NHI and Airbus Helicopters program manager for the Finnish NH90, said.
Airbus highlighted the NH90’s de-icing system, meant to counter the meteorological conditions of flying in northern Europe. The helicopter also has a 4-axis autopilot and fly-by-wire controls to help safely fly the aircraft in severe weather conditions.
The NH90 is the first helicopter in the world to be equipped with Fly-By-Wire technologies, the company said.
The NH90 helicopter program is managed by the NHIndustries consortium. It is owned by AgustaWestland (32 percent), Airbus Helicopters (62.5 percent), and Fokker (5.5 percent). AgustaWestland is a division of Finmeccanica.