New Zealand Ship Helicopter Integration Support

Prism has just provided short notice support to enable the conduct of a deck handling and integration trial for the New Zealand Defence Force, who are acquiring the NH-90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH).

The NH90 will replace the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s fleet of 14 UH-1H Iroquois helicopters, with the first aircraft to be delivered later this year. The trial was conducted with an Australian MRH90 aircraft onboard the multi-role vessel HMNZS CANTERBURY, and established the capability to stow, secure and conduct operational maintenance on an NH90-based helicopter in CANTERBURY’s hangar and cargo bays. Prism personnel used their extensive experience to provide trial management, coordination and engineering review of ship-helicopter interface aspects, with a number of crucial issues identified that can now be resolved prior to delivery of the first New Zealand NH90 aircraft.