The Belgian Government’s Council of Ministers on Friday approved plans to purchase 20 new helicopters: 15 would be to replace the Armed Forces’ A109 and NH90 and five for the Police.
According to The Brussels Times, the 15 in the Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) program for the military will be purchased under the Defense Ministry’s Security, Technology, Ambition, Resilience (STAR) plan, approved last year by the government and parliament.
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Five additional aircraft will be acquired on behalf of the Federal Police. These helicopters will replace the police’s five McDonnell Douglas 902 Explorers belonging to its Department of Air Support (DAFA) based in Melsbroek, Flemish Brabant. The MD902s were purchased in the late 1990s to replace the SA330 Puma, which were being decommissioned.
The new helicopters will be procured through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), the government said in a statement.
The first aircraft should be delivered in 2023, providing the Belgian military with a «high-performance tactical airlift capability for special operations and an airmobile medical evacuation capability.»
The model and manufacturer of the new helicopters has not yet been identified, but models from Leonardo and Airbus Helicopters are expected to be considered. The STAR plan will have a budget of 250 million euros for the 15 helicopters in the LUH program, which are to replace the 10 aging Agusta A109BA Hirundos and four NH90 Caiman currently based at Beauvechain.
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The Belgian LUH program represents yet another blow for NH Industries, which loses another customer after years of being unable to provide operators with satisfactory solutions to the many problems (particularly availability problems) that systematically plague its NH90s.
