After more than twenty years of delay and technical problems, Norway decided to sue the manufacturer NHIndustries (NHI) and requires damages six times higher than the original value of the contract for helicopters Nh90.
According to the Norwegian portal Technical weekly magazine The Norwegian Government asks compensation in the amount 33 billion Norwegian crowns (EUR 2.8 billion) after an unsuccessful mediation meeting. The trial will be discussed with District Court in Oslo of 10 November 2025.
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Problem program from the very beginning
In 2001 Norway ordered 14 helicopters NH90 through the NATO helicopter management agency (NATO) at the price of approximately 5 billion crowns (about 500 million euros of the time). Helicopters were produced by Nhindustries – a consortium consorted by companies Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo a Fokker – and were intended for fight against submarines, search and rescue operations a coast patrol.
However, the program soon became one of the most problematic in modern European defense history.
Report from 2018 from the Chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces She has already warned that the NH90 fleet will only be able to meet the contractual goals in the case of “sufficient availability of spare parts, corresponding to maintenance and widely secured support”.
“For more than 20 years and still no operable helicopters”
“We have made several attempts to solve problems related to NH90 in cooperation with NHI, but more than 20 years after signing the contract, we still have no helicopters capable of fulfilling the missions for which they were acquired,” she said Gro Jærethe director of the agency Defense material (FMA), the Norwegian Office for the purchase of defense material, in June 2022.
Download and replacement
In the same year Norwegian Agency for Defense Material made an unprecedented decision: ground and return the entire NH90 fleet and require a full replacement.
“No matter how many hours our technicians work or how many parts we order – it will never be possible to adapt NH90 to the requirements of our armed forces,” the Minister of Defense then said Bjørn Arild Gram.
Company NHIndustries She responded with “extreme disappointment” and claimed that she had not been given the opportunity to present the final proposal to improve the availability of helicopters in the country.
Shortly after the end of the Oslo contract signed a new agreement with the American company Sikorsky – A subsidiary Lockheed Martin – on the supply of helicopters HH-60Wthat replaces NH90.
From a refund to billion -dollar compensation
Originally Norway only demanded a return of EUR 500 million for the original purchase. Now the claim has increased to EUR 2.8 billion and includes: – return of all NHI payments; -cost of new HH-60W helicopters (EUR 1.09 billion); – Maintenance and operation of NH90 helicopters during their service.
Global problem NH90
Norway is not the only one. Other countries also expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of NH90. Australia decided to replace her 41 NH90 Mr. Taipan helicopters 40 UH-60M Black Hawk Due to high maintenance costs and low availability. The Australian Royal Navy also announced that six naval Mrh90 will replace 12 helicopters MH-60R Seahawk.
Sweden chose a similar procedure and in 2022 confirmed that by 2035 it would eliminate its version HKP-14 NH90 and replaces them new UH-60 Black Hawk For transport missions and future successor to maritime operations.
Sources and pictures: TEKNISK UKEBLOD | Norwegian ARMED FORCES | Forsvaret | Aerotime. This content was created with the help of AI and revised by the editorial team.
