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Australian MRH-90 Taipan parts have been used in the latest software and equipment upgrades for the New Zealand Defence Force’s NH90 helicopter fleet.
Parts from the retired Australian Defence Force helicopters were reportedly used in the currently in-service Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopters without grounding the fleet.
The NZ Ministry of Defence was successful in securing equipment from the ADF, in a project allowing the upgrade of eight aircraft within four weeks. The upgrades are expected to allow the aircraft to better integrate into New Zealand’s controlled airspace.
“We’re the first country to do it, and it’s happened incredibly quickly,” Capability Development Officer Squadron Leader Austin Smith said.
“The upgrade includes the latest generation of secure inter-aircraft communications, Saturn, to enable secure communications between aircraft in a combat environment.”
One of the advantages of the upgrade is that NH90s can now be identified by coalition forces as a friendly aircraft through the use of modern combat identification, according to SQNLDR Smith.
In addition, the software will also allow the helicopters to automatically maintain a hover position all the way to touchdown, rather than to 15 feet, before it was installed.
“It also allows us to hover automatically over water lower than previously able, enhancing the safety of activities like Special Forces entering the water from the helicopter,” SQNLDR Smith said.
The latest software also brings the fleet into compliance with New Zealand Civil Aviation regulations on aircraft identification broadcasts (ADS-B OUT).
“We’ve had a dispensation for the Air Force to operate without ADS-B OUT, but this now enables us to operate without restriction,” SQNLDR Smith said.
Original plans by European manufacturer NHIndustries would have completed the upgrade by the company’s own technicians in Europe. That plan included an initially expected period to take three years, from the time the first of eight aircraft left New Zealand to the time the last one arrived back.
However, due to the high work standards undertaken by the New Zealand Defence Force’s deeper maintenance team, NHI agreed that the work could be completed at RNZAF Base Ohakea, instead of in Europe.
Ministry of Defence Domain director Pete Fitness said the software contract meant the NH90s would be safer to operate.
“In the future, we will look at delivering more software and hardware that will enable additional communication functions and performance-based navigation,” he said.
“This will allow the helicopter to operate more efficiently in civil air traffic control environments.”
