Finnish Army Takes Delivery of First NH90 Tactical Troops Transport Helicopter

Released on Monday, April 07, 2008

The first of 20 NH90 TTT (Tactical Troop Transport) for the Finnish Army Aviation was delivered on March 11 at Eurocopter's Marignane facility. It will subsequently be stationed at the Utti Base of the Finnish Defence Forces. This first aircraft was assembled by Eurocopter, while the remaining 19 will be assembled by Patria in Finland.

Finland is replacing its ageing fleet of Mi-8 helicopters with the NH90 TTT. It meets the requirements of the Finnish armed forces in terms of mission capability and in terms of its suitability for international operations.

The NH90 has established itself as the military medium-size standard helicopter of the 21st century. It makes a significant contribution towards interoperability between European armed forces and their overseas allies for NATO and UN missions. In addition, it contributes towards standardization and rationalization in terms of costs, training and logistics. To date, a total of 507 NH90s have been ordered by 14 countries.

The NH90 is a latest-technology, twin-engine helicopter in the medium-size class. It has been designed from the outset as a multi-role weapons system. The tactical transport and naval variants of the helicopter share a common basic helicopter in a modular design. Dedicated, specialized mission equipment packages allow for maximum flexibility in operations. Special emphasis has been placed on features such as safety, reliability, availability, maintainability, testability and supportability. The diamond shape of the all-composite, corrosion-free airframe combines optimal aerodynamics with low detectability. Optimized man-machine interface significantly reduces pilot and crew workload. The NH90's superior handling qualities are enhanced by a fly-by-wire flight control system, making it the first production helicopter in the world to feature this advanced technology. The NH90 is qualified for day-and-night, all-weather operations.

The NH90 program is managed by the industrial consortium NHIndustries consisting of Eurocopter (62.5%), AgustaWestland (32%) and Stork Fokker (5.5%).