COMMENTARY: No end in sight for Defence Forces' helicopter fiasco

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By Jyri Raivio
     
      This is an op-ed piece, though to be frank, "ground-ed" would make more sense in this instance. For this article is about the desperate straits of the project of the Finnish Defence Forces to acquire a fleet of state-of-the art NH-90 transport helicopters.
      The choppers were supposed to arrive and be on station a full three years ago. Thus far, however, the venture has been stillborn rather than airborne.
     
Back in the autumn of 2001, Finland ordered 20 NH-90 tactical transport helicopters from NH Industries, part of the giant European aerospace consortium EADS. The deal was worth EUR 350 million.
      The first helicopter was scheduled to come into service in October 2004, and the last one by 2008.
      The Finnish military has nevertheless not yet taken delivery of even the first aircraft.
     
The designated users, at the Utti Jaeger Regimnent (specialising in helicopter operations and special forces training), have been ticking off the last flying hours on the clocks of their venerable Russian Mi-8 helicopters, and can no longer respond to requests for copter-borne assistance from the civil authorities.
      "I hope we don't have a spate of bad forest fires next summer", said the regiment's commanding officer Lt. Col. Pertti Hulkko last autumn, when he still believed he would be getting his hands on the first NH90s by the early summer of this year.
      Fortunately there were not any big forest blazes in Finland, but for the Greeks it was a very different story. When push came to shove, Finland had nothing to offer its EU colleague better than some small civilian helicopters.
     
Massive delays have dogged the entire NH90 project. In the summer, EADS's Eurocopter unit took a EUR 105 million hit in the form of a provision for losses over costs from the late delivery of the naval version of the NH90.
      So when will the new helicopters be here, or will they ever arrive?
      It is impossible to get a comprehensive answer to this question, since the military have thrown a thick blanket over the subject of their ill-starred chopper project.
      What is known is that Patria Industries has three completed NH90s at its facility in Jämsä, made for the FDF. In addition, there are 16 further helicopters at various stages of assembly.
     
We also know that the Finnish Defence Forces have not formally taken delivery of a single helicopter, because the NH90 has not received a type-certification green light from the Finnish military aviation authorities.
      According to Col. Heikki Karppinen, who is responsible for airworthiness approval certification at the Defence Command, nothing has happened on this front all year.
      Back in 2006, Karppinen requested further details from the manufacturer, but they have not been forthcoming. When the necessary information arrives, the airworthiness approval process can be gone through in the space of weeks rather than months, says Karppinen.
     
And that is all he says. In other words he does not reveal to what extent the Finnish tactical transport helicopters differ from the similar aircraft bought by the Germans or the Swedes.
      For the German NH90s were given airworthiness certificates (albeit seriously behind schedule in this case, too) at the end of last year. The Swedish model of the helicopter got its papers cleared around Midsummer, and the first helicopter - built in France - was delivered to the Swedes at a ceremony during the 2007 Paris Air Show.
      That aircraft remained in France for pilot training purposes. The process of handing over to the Swedish military of the first of their service helicopters - which are also being assembled in Finland - is currently under way.
      Colonel Mika Soininen, responsible for helicopter operations within the Defence Staff, is also saying nothing. The task of passing out information on this subject has been handed on to the professional media liason people at the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Staff.
      Ossi Kervinen, whose title is Director of Public Information of the Defence Forces, either knows nothing about the matter or does not wish to say anything. According to Kervinen, negotiations are currently in progress about the project, but the subject of the discussions is a closed book.
      We taxpayers are left to wonder to ourselves what else can come unstuck.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.9.2007


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Delay of more than two years in delivery of transport helicopters (27.10.2006)
  Finland and Norway choose NH-90 helicopter (14.9.2001)

Links:
  NH Industries: NH90 tactical transport helicopter
  Finnish Defence Forces: Utti Jaeger Regiment

JYRI RAIVIO / Helsingin Sanomat
jyri.raivio@hs.fi