• The NH90 NFH (top) and the MH-60R are vying for the Air 9000 naval helicopter requirement.
    The NH90 NFH (top) and the MH-60R are vying for the Air 9000 naval helicopter requirement.
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Both contenders for the naval helicopters identified in the White Paper last year as an urgent requirement flew their colours at Pacific2010 last week, literally in the case of Australian Aerospace with the NFH.

The company had a full-size mock up on display (the first Italian prototype stripped down and made exhibition-friendly) as well as taking officials and media up in a flight-ready Italian NFH.

Australian Aerospace chief Jens "I just want a competition" Goennemann liked the NFH so much he arranged for a sky dive off the helicopter before briefing media on the offering.

Goennemann is confident that the requirement to have eight frames at sea at any one time can be fulfilled by 18 craft rather than the 24 identified by Defence.

There was also an offer to reduce the current Army/Navy buy of MRH-90 (80 per cent common with the NFH) to 40 from 46 to make up the difference, though the mix of MRH90s and NFHs is still up for debate.

The NFH is due to be delivered to five European navies by the end of 2010.

Team Romeo (Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky) was on hand to explain the benefits of the MH-60R Foreign Military Sales case, based on the proven Seahawk frame.

While emphasising the low-risk nature of the Romeo, Team Romeo highlighted that the MH-60R is able to handle 10 times the information processing of its predecessor and is successfully deployed with the US Navy who now have their first operational squadron operating from the USS Stennis group.

"This is an acquisition success waiting to happen," Ron Christensen, vice president of international business development, Lockheed Martin said.

The companies are hoping to see an RFP in the next few months to provide Defence and Navy with clearer details on the capability and costs associated with their offerings.

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