DIMDEX 2018: Qatar Inks Contract for 28 NH90 Helicopters.

The Ministry of Defence of Qatar has announced a contract today for the purchase of 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters. The deal was announced during the DIMDEX Exhibition in Doha in the presence of the Italian Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti and Leonardo Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo.

The Ministry of Defence of Qatar has announced a contract today for the purchase of 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters during DIMDEX 2018.

The overall programme is valued at more than €3 billion to the NHI consortium, and includes 16 NH90 TTH for land operations, 12 NH90 NFH for naval missions, a comprehensive support, maintenance training services package and associated infrastructure. The programme could be further extended in the future with the addition of 6 + 6 units in a mix of TTH and NFH variants. Leonardo will act as overall prime contractor with responsibility for programme management, final assembly and delivery of the 12 NH90 NFH helicopters from its Venice – Tessera facility in Northern Italy and an eight-year support and training services package for crews and maintenance technicians. Meanwhile Airbus will be responsible for the final assembly of the16 NH90 TTH aircraft. Deliveries are expected to start before June 2022 and to continue through to 2025. Leonardo will also supply, contribute to and integrate various equipment, avionics and sensors.

Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are proud to have signed this contract that expands and continues Leonardo’s strong and long term partnership with Qatar, to which we are delivering a wide range of the most advanced technology and customized solutions spanning the military and security domains. This contract award confirms Leonardo as a reliable partner to Qatar and marks an outstanding achievement and a new and further milestone for one of the key sectors of Leonardo. We are all strongly committed to strengthen our business approach according to our 2018-2022 Industrial Plan.”

An NH90 NFH aboard ITS Carlo Margottini during DIMDEX 2018

Leonardo is responsible for or contributes to the design, production and integration of a wide range of NH90 critical components and systems. These include the rear fuselage, main gearbox, hydraulic system, Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), plant management system, NFH mission system, power plant integration and final assembly of TTH and NFH aircraft for various customers at its Venice - Tessera facility in Northern Italy. Leonardo also integrates additional dedicated systems, avionics and sensors such as the Laser Obstacle Avoidance Monitoring (LOAM) system, radar, digital map generator, sonar and naval mission console. Weapon systems Leonardo contributes to comprise pintle mounted gatling-type guns, torpedoes and air-to-surface missiles for Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) missions.

An Italian Navy NH90 NFH at DIMDEX 2018

About NH90
The largest military helicopter programme in Europe, the NH90 is the optimal choice for modern operations thanks to its fully composite airframe with a large cabin, its excellent power-to-weight ratio and its wide range of role equipment. It features a quadraplex fly-by-wire flight control system for reduced pilot workload and enhanced flight handling characteristics.

The NH90 is available in two main variants, one dedicated to naval operations, the NH90 NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) and the TTH (Tactical Transport Helicopter) for land based operations. As of today, almost 350 helicopters have been delivered in NFH and TTH variants to customers in 13 nations. Aircraft in service have logged nearly 170,000 flight hours in a wide range of weather and environmental conditions, over land and sea. 543 NH90s have been ordered by customers worldwide to date.

The twin-engine, medium-size NH90 helicopter programme is managed by NHIndustries, which is owned by Leonardo, Airbus, and Fokker.