How Australia scrapped MRH90 Taipan helicopters requested by Ukraine and sold spare parts

At the end of January 2024, it was reported that Australia had started disassembling MRH90 Taipan, and now Airbus is asking for spare parts. This news came amid a scandal that Australia, under various pretexts, refused to hand over these helicopters to Ukraine, despite a publicly voiced request.

The following background information was provided: even if the Australians themselves decided to scrap all available MRH90 Taipan, which is the local localization of the NH90, the most critical components could be removed from these helicopters to support other machines on the global market; it was about several thousand units of components.

You can see these elements in the infographic above. However, the question remained as to when Australia actually started negotiating with Airbus on the possible purchase of components from the MRH90 Taipan, and whether this was the actual reason for the refusal to transfer these helicopters to Ukraine.

The fact that the NH90 manufacturer was going to save the reputation of these helicopters by using elements from the scrapped Taipans was particularly specific, especially after Sweden and Norway decided to abandon these machines.

Now this story has developed more than six months after it began. According to Janes, NHI, the manufacturer of the NH90, has now received 300 of the 4,000 purchased components for the MRH-90 Taipan from the Australian side, with the first deliveries taking place in September 2024.

In a commentary to this agency, NHI CEO Axel Aloccio admitted that the parts dismantled from the Australian helicopters are already ‘used in a wide support program’ for the NH90, and they are sold at a reduced price. This is supposedly how they managed to solve the problem of the shortage of NH90 components.

This format of technical support looks particularly telling against the background of previous reports that the NH90 was considered problematic, but now there are potential orders for up to 100 of these helicopters, which can be finalized within 18 months. In particular through orders from the Middle East.

However, the question still remains, even if it is retrospective, whether it would be more profitable to send these MRH-90 Taipan helicopters to Ukraine under a public request, and thus create a new opportunity for the development and obtaining of new orders for the same NHI concern.