Despite their planned retirement in September, Belgium’s four NH Industries (NHI) NH90 helicopters could linger on in service through a bilateral agreement to incorporate the battlefield transports into the French army’s fleet.
Although Brussels continues to operate and upgrade four examples of the NH90 naval NFH variant, defence minister Theo Franken on 10 July announced the TTHs flown by the Belgian Air Component would be “decommissioned” from September.
But with no clear short-term replacement, Belgium appears to be exploring other options to deliver the capability lost when operation of the TTHs ceases.
Axel Aloccio, president of NHI and head of the NH90 programme for Airbus Helicopters, says Belgium and France have “already launched some [government-level] discussions to keep those helicopters flying”.
Potential scenarios being explored include some form of joint operation, or the French army flying the helicopters on its neighbour’s behalf.
Notably, the French army’s ALAT aviation branch has a regiment of NH90s based at Etain, near the Belgian border in the country’s northeast.
“If Belgium needs this capability in the next 18-24 months they will know those four TTHs are still available and have been kept airworthy by France.
“We expect they should find an agreement before the end of the year, which would be positive,” says Aloccio.
While he stops short of criticising his customer and says he respects the decision, Aloccio says he was a “little bit frustrated” by Franken’s characterisation of the TTHs as “extremely costly to maintain”.
In fact, he says, the “biggest driver” behind Belgium’s decision with the TTH fleet is “that they don’t have enough resources” – essentially a lack of maintenance space, combined with a shortage of crews and technicians.
“It’s not an NH90 problem, if it was, they would also have taken a decision on the NFH,” he says.
“They are extremely happy with the NFH and are using them extensively: they are flying them for search and rescue missions and in the coming years will also start ASW [anti-submarine warfare] missions.”
Announcing his decision to retire the NH90s, Franken promised replacements would arrive from 2026.
Belgium last year ordered 15 Airbus Helicopters H145Ms, for delivery in 2026. The 3.8t light-twins have been seen in some quarters as a partial replacement for the larger NH90 TTHs.
But Aloccio plays down this scenario, adding: “The H145M is not going to replace what an NH90 does: you can’t put 18 troops in a H145M and you don’t have the same range of action.
“They will have a capability gap if they stop operating the TTH.”
NHI is an industrial consortium formed by Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo and GKN-Fokker.
