Defense and security company Saab has recently signed a framework agreement with Eurocopter for support of their NH90 helicopters.

Eurocopter is the largest owner in the consortium NHIndustries, which designs and produces the NH90 helicopter. NHI has contracts for more than 500 NH90 helicopters, with European defense forces comprising the majority of customers. Saab already supplies the Tactical Mission System (TMS) to NHI for the helicopters that are to be delivered to the Swedish Armed Forces.

The contract with Eurocopter is worth approximately SEK 5 million and means that Saab has a framework agreement regarding the support and maintenance of the NH90. The first work to be carried out, and now included in this new agreement, started already back in May 2011 with the maintenance of one Swedish Helicopter 14 at Malmen in Linkoping dedicated to trainings. Saab will assist Eurocopter Training Services with On-the-job-training (OJT) for the Swedish Armed Forces' helicopter technicians. Besides this, Saab is also responsible for airworthiness and maintenance planning.

This assignment is for one year initially, with the option of a further one year extension.

"This is a major success, demonstrating that Saab is a highly credible and attractive business partner for the maintenance of military helicopters. We view this as the start of a long and deeper cooperation with Eurocopter in the future," says Torsten Ohman, Divisional Manager and responsible for the helicopter operations within Support and Services at Saab.