The Ministry of Defense of Qatar today announced the signing of a contract for the purchase of 28 multi-role medium-helicopter NH90 helicopters. The signing of the agreement was announced at the DIMDEX exhibition, underway in Doha, in the presence of the Italian Defense Minister, Roberta Pinotti, and Leonardo's CEO, Alessandro Profumo.
The value of the entire NHI Consortium program is higher than 3 billion euros and includes 16 NH90 TTH for land operations, 12 NH90 NFH for naval missions and a complete package of support, maintenance, training and infrastructure operations. The program could be further expanded in the future with the addition of additional 12 units (6 + 6) in a mix of TTH and NFH. Leonardo will act as prime contractor for the management of the entire program at the customer. The company will also be responsible for the final assembly and delivery of the 12 NH90 NFH naval vessels from its Venice-Tessera plant, together with the provision of an eight-year support and training package for crews and technicians. Airbus will, in turn, be responsible for the 16 NH90 TTH terrestrials. Deliveries will start before June 2022 and will continue until 2025. Leonardo will provide or contribute to the integration of various equipment, avionics and sensors.
Alessandro Profumo, Managing Director of Leonardo, said: "We are proud of the signing of this contract. Leonardo confirms once again a reliable partner for Qatar, which is supplying a wide range of cutting-edge technology and customized solutions in the field of defense and security. Today's announcement represents an extraordinary result in one of the key sectors for the company. We are strongly committed to strengthening our market positioning, in line with the 2018-2022 Business Plan ".
Leonardo is among the top ten companies in the world at Aerospace, Defense and Security and the leading Italian industrial company. Since January, 2016 has been operating as a company organized in seven business divisions (Helicopters, Aircrafts, Aerostructures, Aircraft and Space Systems, Defense and Defense Systems, Security Systems and Information Systems), Leonardo competes on most important international markets leveraging its own areas of technological and product leadership. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), 2016 Leonardo recorded consolidated revenues of 12 billion and has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, the USA and Poland.
NH90 Program
Leonardo is responsible for or significantly contributes to the design, production and / or integration of a wide range of critical systems and components of the NH90 helicopter. These include the tail section of the fuselage, the transmission, the hydraulics, the autopilot, the mission system of the naval variant, the integration of the propulsion system and the final assembly of the TTH and NFH variants for various customers at the Venice-Tessera plant. Leonardo also integrates additional dedicated systems, avionics and sensors such as the Laser Obstacle Avoidance System (LOAM), radar, digital map generator, sonar and mission console for naval applications. As for the weapon systems, Leonardo contributes to the integration of gatling-type machine guns on the tailgate, torpedoes and air-to-surface anti-ship missiles.
NH90 helicopter
The NH90, the largest European helicopter program, represents the ideal choice for carrying out missions in a modern operational context thanks to a structure entirely in composite materials, the excellent weight-to-power ratio and the wide range of equipment. The NH90 is equipped with modern Fly-by-Wire controls that allow the reduction of the pilot workload and the improvement of the flight characteristics. The NH90 is offered in two variants, one dedicated to naval operations (NFH - Nato Frigate Helicopter) and another to land missions (TTH - Tactical Transport Variant). To date, nearly 350 copies have been delivered, in both versions, to operators from 13 countries. The helicopters in service have accumulated almost 170.000 hours of flight on mission, in the presence of any climatic conditions, both in land and sea. 543 NH90s have been ordered to date worldwide.
The NH90 program is managed through the NHIndustries Consortium, a company established by Leonardo.