Officials at the Netherlands Ministry of Defence needed helicopter training systems to help its military personnel gain and hone skills. They selected systems from Rotorsim, a consortium owned by CAE and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company. Rotorsim won contracts totaling roughly $80 million from the Netherlands Ministry of Defence to provide NH90 helicopter training systems and services.

According to the agreements, Rotorsim has prime contractor responsibility as part of the Joint NH90 Training Program (JNTP) to provide one NH90 full-mission flight trainer (FMFT) and an NH90 virtual sensor trainer for training rear crew sensor operators. It marks the first NH90 FMFT for the naval variant (NFH–NATO Frigate Helicopter) of the NH90 helicopter, for anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare missions.

The simulator will feature a roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, and the cockpit will also be reconfigurable between the NFH and Tactical Transport (TTH) variants of the NH90 helicopter. AgustaWestland, which has responsibility for the overall integration of the NH90 naval mission system for all NH90 naval helicopters, will provide the data package for the simulator.

For more, visit AgustaWestland and CAE online at www.agustawestland.com and www.cae.com, respectively.