The Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw) – Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology, and In-Service Support – received the German Navy’s first NH90 Sea Lion helicopter from Airbus Helicopters in Donauwörth, southern Germany, on 24 October.
Two more helicopters will be delivered by the end of 2019 and delivery of all 18 will be completed in 2022, Airbus said in a press release on the same day.
The BAAINBw received the German Navy’s first NH90 Sea Lion helicopter from Airbus Helicopters in Donauwörth, southern Germany, on 24 October. (IHS Markit/Nicholas Fiorenza)
According to the commander of German naval aviation, Kapitän zur See (Captain) Thorsten Bobzin, Sea Lion missions will include military and civilian search and rescue; maritime surveillance; and the tactical transport of German Navy special forces combat divers, boarding teams, and personnel and materiel.
Airbus officials attributed the on-time and on-budget delivery of the Sea Lion to working closely with the German Ministry of Defence and German Navy. Wolfgang Schoder, CEO of Airbus Helicopters Deutschland, said the Sea Lion exceeded the capabilities agreed in the June 2015 contract for the helicopter. Eberhard Schöll, Airbus’ vice-president of the NH90 programme, highlighted that the Sea Lion will have new instrument flight rules (IFR)-navigation capabilities, making it the first NH90 to be able to fly in civil air traffic. Schöll went on to say that the NH90 Sea Lion will have improved military and civil identification friend-or-foe, an advanced direction finder for future search-and rescue-frequencies, and four V/UHF radios, including a satellite communications capability, an automatic identification system, TETRA digital tactical radio, M3M 12.7 mm machine guns on both sides, and a rear ramp with increased load capability.
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