After the Qatar Emiri defense ministry shared photos of the first Qatari NH90 helicopter at the country’s national day military parade on December 18, Italian defense company Leonardo confirmed that the first unit had been delivered on December 11.
Leonardo is one of the companies involved in the delivery of the helicopters, acting as prime contractor for the overall program. The company is responsible for the final assembly and delivery of the 12 NH90 NFH helicopters from its Venice Tessera facility.
Qatar is also receiving 16 tactical transport variants that are being delivered from the French production site of Airbus Helicopters in Marignane.
The first TTH overland variant was delivered on 11 December, in accordance with contractual commitments, Leonardo said, adding that this helicopter would be followed by the first NFH variant soon after its qualification in the next coming months.
Deliveries will continue through to 2025.
Managed through the NHIndustries joint venture, the NH90 is the largest military helicopter program in Europe. Nearly 460 units are in service worldwide and the platform has logged over 300,000 flight hours.
In addition to the 28 units on order, Qatar’s NH90 program has the potential to be extended in the future with the addition of 6 + 6 units in a mixture of TTH and NFH variants.
Leonardo is also supplying simulators, training aids and a maintenance support and training services package for aircrews and maintenance technicians.
Qatar’s national day celebrations also provided confirmation of the delivery of MBDA’s Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles to the country, which could be seen on Qatari Rafale fighter aircraft. These missiles are also poised to be employed by the Qatari Air Force’s Eurofighter Typhoons.
