First Qatari NH90

On 17 December 2020, this Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF, Qatar Air Force) NH90-NFH was seen during at test flight above Istrana (Italy). The mainly primer Naval Frigate Helicopter was already furnished with the QEAF roundel as well as the Qatari flag as well as "266" (most likely QA266) on its tail. The NFH carries CSX82012 as test serial.

In the nose section, the electro-optical Euroflir 410 is seen. As reported before at Scramble News, Qatar ordered 28 NH90s (sixteen TTH and twelve Naval Frigate Helicopters) with another twelve on option (six of each type) on 14 March 2018.

The order, that was already expected to be signed in late 2017, early 2018, had planned first deliveries from the 2019-2020 time frame. This plan is clearly delayed.

In the meantime NH90-TTH, serial QA250 and test registration F-ZWBA, has been seen flying from the Airbus facility at Marignane-Berre (France) on 18 December 2020. This NH90 was also in primer but with Qatar roundel and construction number 1487 and the test registration on a board behind a window.

This leads to the following serial batches, to be confirmed:

QA250-QA265 NH90-TTH (16) Marignane (France) built and QA266-QA277 NH90-NFH (12) Venice Tessera (Italy) built.

Photo by Tommaso Dal Maso (thanks!)

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