Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
Is the problem with the NH-90 rooted in the spare parts flow?
What I heard is an unfortunate combination of Flight Hour based maintenance and time based maintenance combined with long waiting times for parts. When the parts finally arrive and are installed the time to the next time based maintenance is almost consumed. Since most Countries which operate the NH90 were not really preparing for war (piece dividend) many operators also reduced their Military Maintenance capacities and Spare Parts stocks, often reliying on the capability of the industry to provide parts when needed. This does not seem to work well at all with the NH90. This is exacerbated by Factory upgrades being done on the fleet also taking long and adding to this schedule trap.
I don't know how the Kiwis do it but having a big pile of Spare Parts on Stock appears to be a good way to improve availabilty and escape the above describe issues.
In general I get the impression the ship was deigned a tad to sophisticated trying to achieve some performance gains over the old trusty ones. It seems to have started from the Special operation requirements (FBW, aerobatics capability, low weight construction, avionics) and deriving the 'bus' from the racecar. This sophistication unfortunately may not have been the best idea for a 'lorry'/'bus'.