The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk, FMV) announced that the NHIndustries consortium has delivered another NH90 multi-role helicopter to the Swedish Armed Forces in the final configuration of onboard equipment. FMV has previously delivered 18 NH90 helicopters to the Swedish Armed Forces, of which eleven are interim variants. Before they are delivered to the Swedish Armed Forces, the helicopters undergo a delivery inspection under the auspices of FMV. These eleven have undergone or are to undergo upgrades to the final configuration, which gives the helicopters full capability as per the Swedish Armed Forces’ order.
The specialists from FMV and the Swedish Armed Forces inspect that they are built in line with the agreement and that all documentation is correct. This is work that takes several weeks to carry out and requires test flights from FMV’s Test and Evaluation department. After the latest delivery, four modified NH90 helicopters remain to be delivered to the Swedish Armed Forces. Two land-based helicopters will land in Luleå and two sea-based helicopters will be delivered to the helicopter squadron in Ronneby. These are currently undergoing modifications by industry in Finland and France, respectively, and are expected to arrive at FMV during 2023 and 2024.
The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter. It was developed in response to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) requirements for a battlefield helicopter which would also be capable of being operated in naval environments. The NH90 was developed and is manufactured by NHIndustries, a collaborative company owned by Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo (formerly AgustaWestland) and Fokker Aerostructures. The first prototype conducted its maiden flight in December 1995; the type first entered operational service in 2007. As of June 2022, the NH90 has logged 327,053 flight hours in the armed forces of thirteen countries.
In 2001, Sweden signed a contract for 18 NH90 TTH, made up of 13 TTT/SAR and 5 SAR/ASW to be operated by the Swedish Air Force. Because of renewed foreign submarine activity at the Swedish coast in 2014 it was decided in 2015 that four TTT/SAR would be modified to SAR/ASW in order to increase the anti-submarine warfare capability, so there will be 9 TTT/SAR and 9 SAR/ASW. The NH90 is known as the Helikopter 14 (HKP14) in Swedish service, the FOC version of TTT/SAR are designated HKP14E and the FOC version of SAR/ASW are designated HKP14F. By November 2015, Sweden had ordered 18 NH90s with ten helicopters delivered.
