Eurocopter conducted the first flight of Spain's NH90 TTH tactical transport helicopter today, sustaining the development pace for this multinational rotary-wing program. The one-hour mission was performed at Eurocopter's Marignane facility in France.

A multidisciplinary team from Eurocopter España contributed to this Spanish NH90 program milestone, which involved the first NH90 equipped with GE CT7-8F5 engines. Following today's flight, the helicopter will be transferred to Eurocopter's Albacete, Spain facility in 2011 to continue with development flight tests leading to its full qualification by the Spanish Ministry of Defense. Deliveries of NH90 TTHs for the Spanish Armed Forces are scheduled to begin in 2012.

The first two Spanish NH90s were built by Eurocopter in its Marignane facility, while assembly of the remaining 43 has begun in Spain following the establishment of a final assembly line at Albacete in September.

The 11-metric ton NH90 TTH is tailored for tactical missions that include search and rescue, personnel recovery and casualty evacuation, with the capability to operate day and night in all environments. As the most modern helicopter in its class, the twin-engine, medium-sized NH90 features a high level of system integration built around a dual-bus core avionics system, a full glass cockpit with multifunction displays, and fly-by-wire controls with 4-axis automatic flight control.