Marignane 24.10.2002 Major Milestone for NH90 Program : Crash Test Completed

This Thursday, the future military transport and naval helicopter NH90 completed the crash safety test at Eurocopter's Ottobrunn facility in Germany. Except for a few marginal, non-critical areas, the helicopter proved its ability to withstand a crash. This is a major milestone for the NH90 program and an important prerequisite for the scheduled delivery of the helicopter to the armed forces of the five NAHEMA nations starting in 2004.

With representatives from the customer side as well as program employees, the center fuselage section of the NH90 with all equipment and instrumentation successfully demonstrated its ability to protect passengers in accordance with the customers’ specifications. For the test, the module was, among others, loaded with 13 dummies.

The central focus of the exercise was to test such vital characteristics as the integrity of the fuselage structure, the energy absorption of the lower floor structure, special load absorption mechanisms, the seal integrity of the fuel system and the proper functioning of the troop seats. The precise test data were obtained using complex measurement and high-speed film technology, and will be analyzed in detail over the days to come.

This test confirmed once again the quality of the advanced materials and fuselage technologies of Eurocopter which had already been proven in a similar crash test undergone by the Tiger combat helicopter.

The NH90 is a five-nation (Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal) transport and naval helicopter program by the industry consortium NH Industries, in which Eurocopter holds a 60% share. The five NAHEMA nations have already placed 377 NH90 orders, 253 of which are fixed orders and 55 are options, and there are 52 fixed orders and 17 options from the three Nordic countries Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Eurocopter is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS. EADS is a global aerospace and defence leader, and the world's second-largest in terms of revenues. It maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technologies, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. Its family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft maker Airbus; Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter manufacturer; Astrium, the space company and MBDA, the world's second-largest missile company. EADS is also the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft programme. EADS has more than 70 facilities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK and is active in markets around the world.

© Eurocopter 2002