This thread has been quiet for a while.
I hope i am adding this message to the right (most recent) thread on NH-90.
This week the Dutch have stopped acceptance/delivery of 7 remaining NH-90's.
Reason is the bad corrosion resistance of the NHF frigate models.
They state to be the first customer which have used the type heavily in a saline environment.
This being in the Caribbean and Horn of Afrika.
This makes me wonder:
- What has the Italian navy done with theirs since 2011?
- What have all other customers done with their now 200 delivered NH-90?
(although not all operated out above sea, this must have been given some rust?)
- What will happen if the heli's will operate on the North Atlantic?
Below a link to the Helihub site which also covered this item.
Apologies for the terrible translation. The automatic translation programme is clearly not
up to official govermental Dutch language.
Corrosion stops Netherlands NH90 deliveries | Helihub - the Helicopter Industry Data Source
In this link also contains further downlinks to the official letter to parliament (dutch) and the corrosion investigation.
The official letter also states operational consequences such as:
Night SAR capablity to be rented in (longer)
Good news for NHV!
The problems were first reported half March.
At that time WTV from Vlaanderen Belgium made a report with interview with NHV:
TV report with NHV
The NH90 will have some spots but will not have heavy corrosion
Also stating that
The NH90 is a fantastic and highly capable platform but with high operational costs of € 13.000 to € 25.000 per hour. ......
NHV SAR Dauphins as being operated for Dutch goverment altough half the size costs roughly € 7.500 per hour ......
NHV hopes Belgian SAR would be privatised like UK.
Everyone would benifit as costs could roughly be split in half.
Not expressed specifically, i assume they imply that Belgian SAR could do with smaller aircraft than NH90.
It may be clear that the NH90 is not bought only to replace SAR.
Are there any Dutch or Belgian posters with more insight?
SLB