A top industrialist who headed an assessment of Finland's military helicopter procurement programme says that the country got a good deal despite delays.
In 2001 Finland ordered twenty NH90 transport helicopters from the French company NHIndustries at a price of $790 million. Originally, the deal was part of a joint Nordic procurement in coordination with Sweden and Norway. The helicopters were to have entered service in 2004.
Because of continuing delays in delivery, last autumn Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies set up a working group to assess the procurement programme and named to head it was Keijo Suila, one of the country's highest-profile industrialists, former president and CEO at Finnair and a member of the board of Nokia.
According to Suila's assessment the delays were in large part caused by the fact that NHIndustries was a new concern and the helicopter type was still under development when the order was placed. The development programme proved to be overly-ambitious, and Finland had limited possibilities get speedier delivery.
The assessment says that despite the delays, Finland did make a good deal and that the NH90 is probably the best choice in light of the entire span of time that the craft will be in active use.
However, Keijo Suila has suggested that development of procurement procedures is needed. He says that the present military procurement process is complex and that the helicopter programme was without clear management, as it involved the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Forces, the Patria defence and aerospace group, the army and the air force.