Dutch navy receives mission planning system for NH90 fleet

NH90 Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy

 © AgustaWestland

11/05/11 Flight International

The Royal Netherlands Navy has taken delivery of a mission planning and analysis system for its fleet of NH Industries NH90 helicopters from Finmeccanica company AgustaWestland.

Twenty NH90s are on order for the Dutch service, which in April 2010 became the first customer to receive the naval-variant aircraft.

Delivery of the new mission planning and analysis system followed a "thorough verification" by the navy, said AgustaWestland. This was conducted at its helicopter support systems facility in Sesto Calende, Italy and at De Kooy naval base in the Netherlands after the successful completion of installation and site acceptance tests.

Based on AgustaWestland's Skyflight planning system, the navy's new equipment will be fully operational by the end of 2012, the company said. The same technology is also being adapted for use with the UK's Apache AH1 attack helicopters and future AW159 Lynx Wildcats, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force's AW109 light utility helicopters.