Airbus and Kongsberg of Norway have signed a long-term strategic agreement to collaborate over support and services for the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding between Airbus Helicopters, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, and Kongsberg Aviation Maintenance Services, the companies will work to strengthen the deployment of local maintenance capabilities with the objective to optimise the availability of the NH90 helicopter.
As an initial activity, Airbus is developing and qualifying Kongsberg’s facilities to provide deep maintenance of the NH90 tail gearboxes for the Norwegian fleet and to bring business opportunities for the Nordics where a total of 52 NH90s are operated by Norway, Sweden and Finland. The move will position Kongsberg as prime contractor for this support contract and the first entity outside Airbus to be qualified for the work.
In subsequent steps, Airbus and Kongsberg have identified further paths to exploit a range of additional cooperation opportunities with the objective of enhancing Norway’s support provision.
