Italian Army takes its final NH90 helicopter on order
Italian Army UH-90As have logged over 31,000 flight hours in service, including in Iraq. (Photo: US Army)
The Italian Army’s UH-90A (NH90 TTH) multirole helicopter programme chalked up a major milestone with completion of deliveries on 25 November. The final aircraft of 60, assembled at Leonardo’s Venice Tessera facility, was handed over to the army during an official ceremony.
The Italian Army has logged 31,096 flight hours with its UH-90As to date. The fleet is distributed over three main bases and is used for missions such as tactical troop transport, logistics support, special operations, cargo resupply and hoist operations, MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation) and light tactical vehicle transport. The Italian Army and Leonardo also colloaborated on delivering NH90 crew training to other operators.
The Tessera facility is the Italian final line assembly of NH90s for various operators, including Qatar. and the plant is also active in delivering retrofits to in-service helicopters. The Italian Navy also operates 10 NH90 TTHs in MITT configuration in the tactical transport role with deliveries completed in 2021.
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Shephard Defence Insight estimates the overall programme value of the UH-90A procurement to be $2.3 billion, with a unit cost per helicopter of $39 million.
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