The French Armament General Directorate (DGA) is to supply four H160s to the French Navy for search and rescue missions through a partnership between Airbus Helicopters, Babcock, and Safran Helicopter Engines. The contract was awarded on January 31, 2020. The French Navy will start operating these helicopters in 2022 for a period of ten years.
Airbus Helicopters and the French Armament General Directorate (DGA) are pursuing a new set of studies to further the militarization of the H160 and to define its associated support ecosystem in the context of the Joint Light Helicopter program (Hélicoptère Interarmées Léger: HIL).
The Bulgarian Navy received an additional Airbus Helicopter AS365N3 + Dauphin II (tail number 905) naval helicopter on December 6, 2019, at the Chaika airfield in Varna. This unit was procured as a replacement of the AS565MB Panther that crashed in 2017.
The Airbus Helicopters VSR700 naval VTOL UAV made its maiden flight on November 8 at the Aix-en-Provence drone test center (south of France). Several test captive-flights were successfully performed on an enhanced version of the UAV.
Airbus Helicopters has delivered the first NH90 NTH Sea Lion naval multi-role helicopter to the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), with a further two to be delivered by the end of the year.
The French Navy recently launched a tender calling for construction work at the Lanvéoc-Poulmic naval air base (BAN) prior to delivery of an interim fleet of Airbus Helicopter H160-type light multirole helicopters.
The 18th and final NH90 helicopter for the Swedish Armed Forces was handed over by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in July, at the Airbus Helicopters site of Marignane in Southern France.
The NH90 Sea Lion for the German Navy successfully completed mission demonstrations for relevant roles, including SAR missions, in July.
French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, today announced that the future Light Joint Helicopter (HIL program) of the French military will be named "Guepard" (Cheetah). She also announced that its procurement will be accelerated.
The Royal Malaysian Navy's fleets of Super Lynx Mk 100 and AS 555 SN Fennec (renamed H125M) helicopters are celebrating 15 years of operational service, the service praised today at LIMA Aerospace and Maritime exhibition in Langkawi, Malaysia.
