After an NH-90 helicopter (locally designated MRH90 Taipan) crashed into the sea off Lindeman Island during the Talisman Sabre exercise, Australia announced that it will retire its Taipan helicopter fleet ahead of schedule.
Following the tragic accident in July in which all four helicopter crew members lost their lives, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles stated that the Taipan helicopter fleet will not fly again before the previously planned retirement date of December 2024.
In this regard, NHI expresses its disappointment about the decision of the Commonwealth of Australia not to resume MRH90 operations.
With reference to the accident involving an Australian MRH90 on 28th July, NHIndustries has already informed operators that it has not identified any information from the initial flight data analysis that relates to a failure, malfunction or defect linked to the aircraft design. NHI has not recommended any additional measures to be applied to the operating fleet.
Despite this, New Zealand took the precautionary measure of grounding its own fleet of NH90 helicopters for 48 hours in order to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to determine whether its aircraft were safe to fly.
NHI also announced that it will offer a proposal to the Commonwealth of Australia to support the phasing out of the MRH90 fleet. This will create a stock of parts that can be used by other operators, who continue to successfully fly the aircraft around the world.
See also: Norway terminates NH90 contract and demands a refund
Canberra decided to replace its current fleet of NH90 helicopters, whose poor logistics and limited operability gave them so many headaches, with the well-known U.S. UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for the Army and MH-60R Seahawk for its Navy. Other dissatisfied customers that are in the process of replacing their NH90 fleets are Norway, Belgium and Sweden.
