NHI submits NH90 HSPN proposal to Spain

NHI is to develop an HSPN version of the NH90 helicopter for Spain, to be based on the Sea Tiger (pictured) for Germany with some elements of the special forces version for France. (Airbus)

NHIndustries (NHI) has submitted to the Spanish government its offer to build and deliver up to 32 NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) Spain (HSPN) variant rotorcraft.

President of NHI and head of the NH90 Programme at Airbus Helicopters Axel Aloccio told Janes and other defence media on 16 December that the multinational consortium had responded to Phase 3 of Spain's NH90 procurement programme, which will see development and delivery of the HSPN Spanish-specific variant of the helicopter.

“We delivered the HSPN feasibility study last week,” Aloccio said on 16 December.

HSPN version

The HSPN is essentially a Spanish version of the German Sea Tiger Multi Role Frigate Helicopter (MRFH) anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) helicopter, the first of which was delivered to the German Navy (Deutsche Marine) on 16 December, and the NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) France (TFRA) Standard 2 helicopter, the first of which is to be delivered to the French special operations forces (SOF) in June 2026.

“The Sea Tiger and TFRA Standard 2 are the ‘latest and greatest' evolutions of the NFH and of the TTH, and we have solved a lot of obsolescence issues,” Aloccio said during a 14 October media event at the Marignane production facility of consortium chief stakeholder Airbus Helicopters.