The Ministry of Defense of Qatar has announced a contract for the purchase of 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters worth more than €3 billion.
The deal was announced during the last day of DIMDEX Exhibition in Doha (12-14 March 2018) in the presence of the Italian Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti and Leonardo Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo.
The agreement, which includes 16 NH90s in tactical transport (TTH) configuration and 12 NH90s in naval (NFH) configuration, will support the country’s plan to modernise their military helicopter fleet. As part of the plan, Qatar will receive 16 H125 light single-engine helicopters in training configuration for operation by the Qatar Armed Forces Air Academy.
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,” he added.
Ben Bridge, Executive Vice President Global Business at Airbus Helicopters, said:
We are honored to support the Qatar Armed Forces through this strategic partnership. The NH90 is a modern and combat-proven asset that will meet Qatar’s demanding operational requirements for decades to come, both in troop transport and naval missions. Our partnership on the new training academy will also strengthen the relationship between our countries by enabling the exchange of expertise and know-how in helicopter operations.”
Leonardo will act as prime contractor for the program management with the end customer and Airbus will be responsible for the final assembly and delivery of 16 NH90 TTH aircraft from its facility in Marignane, France while Leonardo will be responsible for final assembly and delivery of the 12 NH90 NFH helicopters from its Venice - Tessera facility in Northern Italy.
The NH90 is well suited for operations in the most demanding conditions and has been combat-proven in many theatres of operation worldwide. This contract for 28 helicopters brings the total order book to 543 aircraft. To date, 350 aircraft have been delivered to 20 customers in 13 countries and have accumulated around 170,000 flight hours.
The twin-engine, medium-size NH90 helicopter program is managed by the consortium NHIndustries, a company owned by Airbus Helicopters (62.5%), Leonardo (32%), and Fokker (5.5%).
Leonardo is among the top ten global players in Aerospace, Defense and Security and Italy’s main industrial company. As a single entity from January 2016, organized into seven business divisions (Helicopters; Aircraft; Aero-structures; Airborne & Space Systems; Land & Naval Defense Electronics; Defense Systems; Security & Information Systems), Leonardo operates in the most competitive international markets by leveraging its areas of technology and product leadership.
Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), in 2016 Leonardo recorded consolidated revenues of 12 billion Euros and has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the UK, the U.S. and Poland.
Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2017 it generated revenues of € 67 billion and employed a workforce of around 129,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners from 100 to more than 600 seats. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as one of the world’s leading space companies. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide.
