Six NATO nations team up for helicopter program

[charlielima223]

https://breakingdefense.com/2022/06/six ... -industry/

There is an interesting wrinkle in all this...

The most important of these characteristics was that the helicopter should be very fast, with a top speed of around 220 knots (253 mph) — which would seem to narrow the field down to a tilt-rotor, hybrid system or some other kind of non-traditional helicopter design. A further requirement for the NGRC was that its range should be around 1,180 miles, twice that of today’s helicopters. Lastly, it needed to be cheap.

Of note, the US and British armies have agreed to pursue a “Future Vertical Lift Cooperative Program Feasibility Assessment” that provides the UK MoD with access to US Army requirements documents which could be used to inform their own decision-making processes. The fact the requirements of this UK-led NGRC program were so aligned with those of the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift Program led to suspicions amongst European industry that the NGRC requirements had been written so that the winner of FVL will, by default, end up as the winner of NGRC.

This did not sit well with the industrial representatives, who, according to the corporate insider, felt that the requirement of the US Army for speed and range, needed for operations in the Pacific flying between islands, is simply not necessary on the European theatre.

[ricnunes]

If this works "as well" as the NH90...

[h-bomb]

"This did not sit well with the industrial representatives, who, according to the corporate insider, felt that the requirement of the US Army for speed and range, needed for operations in the Pacific flying between islands, is simply not necessary on the European theatre."

Unless you are the one on a sinking boat waiting for the helo to arrive....

[pron]

If this works "as well" as the NH90...

Sure, what can go wrong...

[weasel1962]

Defiant vs Valor. Popcorn ready.

[hornetfinn]

If this works "as well" as the NH90...

It seems like NHIndustries needed to be shocked to deal with the issues:
https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/06/france-germany-and-airbus-seek-to-improve-nh90-availability/

NHIndustries signed an agreement with the NATO Helicopter Management Agency [NAHEMA] to better support the German and French NH90 helicopter fleets.

After the uproar caused by Australia’s resolution to give an early retirement to its NH90 fleet, and the shock caused by Norway’s decision to terminate the contract with NHI, return all its helicopters and demand a refund, Europe’s largest helicopter joint venture is rushing to show that it has a solution to the recurring operational availability problems of its aircraft.

some more info about the issues with the Norwegians:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/norway-is-done-with-its-unreliable-nh90-helicopters-wants-500m-back

Thirteen of the 14 NH90 helicopters on order are delivered, but only eight arrived in a fully operational configuration, according to the Norwegian Defense Ministry. Where the fleet is required to fly 3,900 hours a year, it averages just 700 hours annually. The helicopters spend more time in the shop than in the air, Norwegian Minister of Defense Bjørn Arild Gram said figuratively.

and

NHI has delivered 471 NH90s to its customers, and the global fleet has flown just over 327,000 hours. The helicopter was designed to provide European NATO countries with a standard, and interoperable multi-role rotorcraft focused on coastal patrol, anti-submarine warfare, search-and-rescue, coastal patrol, and utility operations.

Finnish Army had some serious issues early on with TTH version, but most of those seem to have been resolved. Availability and flight hour costs were really problematic at some point but now they are at good level according to Finnish Army. Of course TTH is different from NFH and operating environments are very different. From what I've heard, NH90 itself is very good and modern but it seems reliability and availability are still problematic.