The Belgian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that it will deactivate the Belgian Air Component’s four NHIndustries NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopters (TTHs) later this year.
Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken stated on his X social media account on 10 July 2025, “The four NH90 TTH helicopters will be taken out of service starting in September. Bad purchase. Extremely expensive to maintain. Replacements are coming in 2026.”
Although this leaves the Belgian Naval Component still operating its four NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopters, Belgium has otherwise joined Australia and Norway in retiring an NH90 fleet, while Sweden has also indicated it will do the same.
In June 2024 the Belgian MoD placed an order through NATO for 15 Airbus Helicopters H145Ms, which will succeed the NH90 TTHs and replace the Belgian Air Component’s 10 remaining AgustaWestland AW109 helicopters, which have been in service since 1992. The H145M deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2026.
NHIndustries is owned by Airbus Helicopters (62.5%), Leonardo (32%) and Fokker Aerostructures (5.5%). Although the NH90 programme stands as currently the largest military helicopter project in Europe, and has delivered around 600 aircraft to the armed forces of 14 countries, some users have suffered delivery delays, technical issues, high operational costs and low availability rates.
