NHIndustries Sees New NH90 Buyers As Top-Up Orders Mount
NHIndustries is looking to regain momentum in securing new orders for its NH90 helicopter in the new year after landing several top-up deals.
The company is in talks with “a lot of new prospects,” NHIndustries President Axel Aloccio says. “We have been heavily engaged in a lot of commercial campaigns.” At least some of those are likely to lead to announcements next year, he indicates.
The deals would come after the joint venture between Airbus, Leonardo and GKN for three NH90s this month. Aloccio suggests another top-up announcement with a different customer could be disclosed before year-end. Spain’s government in September approved buying a third batch of NH90s, for 32 aircraft.
NHIndustries recently completed the last delivery of NH90s to Greece and Qatar. In a nod to previous program issues, Aloccio says that schedule performance has improved. “We have had some delays in the past but on all the contracts we have signed recently we have been on time.”
The company has also inducted the first NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter for French special forces into its final assembly line. Those rotorcraft are due for delivery in mid-2026.
Aloccio also says the company hopes to sign the architecture study for the NH90 Blk. 2 configuration within weeks. Blk. 2 is intended to address obsolescence, enhance the range of the aircraft, simplify maintenance and support, insert modular avionics and add more capabilities such as new weapons or crewed-uncrewed teaming technologies.