NZFF

Seems to be 3 contenders...you might find this interesting .
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... licopters/

Personally for what its worth, I would stick with Airbus and the NHF. Training time would be reduced as we already have the NH90 simulators....anyway, read the article for yourself, but it all points at Airbus as far as I can see.....
But.....

As cool as the Wildcat would be, they'd be daft to stray too far from the current RNZAF fleet.

chopper_nut wrote:As cool as the Wildcat would be, they'd be daft to stray too far from the current RNZAF fleet.

Cheers Nick , its is a purposeful looking beast for sure.

chopper_nut wrote:As cool as the Wildcat would be, they'd be daft to stray too far from the current RNZAF fleet.

...being: NH90?
Why did our Oztralian cuzzies ground their fleet, can't recall?

I am wondering if the UAV component might tip the balance, given the lack of qualified ground crew at present.
Flightsimmers, apply here.

For several reasons I don't believe it will be the NFH90...firstly there are a few Navies/ Air Forces that have canceled orders or scrapped their NH90s including Norway, Australia and Sweden due to realiabilty and maintenace issues .the dutch have also had issues with their naval NH90s...secondly they don't fit the frigates hangar. The Wildcat is an outside contender as well as few Navies use it and we will fall into the same trap as the Seasprites...it will be in my view the MH60R which will have commonality with RAN and many other NATO Navies...but there is the Trump factor I guess...although I do think the Wildcat is quite cool and is probably the cheapest

Charl wrote:

chopper_nut wrote:As cool as the Wildcat would be, they'd be daft to stray too far from the current RNZAF fleet.

...being: NH90?
Why did our Oztralian cuzzies ground their fleet, can't recall?

I am wondering if the UAV component might tip the balance, given the lack of qualified ground crew at present.
Flightsimmers, apply here.

No, I meant AW / Leonardo in general. Just spares and support reasons.

It would be crazy if it was anything but the Sikorsky Seahawk, which most of our allies fly. They are numerically superior, versus the Wildcat which has less than 100 built. I don't believe the NH option is viable due to the size.

The Ukraine war has demonstrated that the legacy $$$ machines are outclassed in every way by cheap UAV's which can morph in the field to meet all and any challenge.
If sensory and weapon projection is the aim, (which for the frigate, it is) then there is no more cost-effective way to spend those $.
There are also many more places to source these from, than the Usual Merchants of Death.
I'm not sure that current thinking gets this, in NZ.

Charl wrote:...Why did our Oztralian cuzzies ground their fleet, can't recall?

https://www.australiandefence.com.au/de ... 20accident.

There is a lot of blamethrowing over the fatal crash. I don't think we will ever be told what really happened.

Deliberately destroying a billion-dollar aircraft fleet is not a standard operational procedure for the Australian Defense Force

Have they actually buried the lot of them?

Charl, some more background here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-07/ ... /105264346.
They don't seem interested in the performance of the night-vison helmets.

Naki wrote:For several reasons I don't believe it will be the NFH90...firstly there are a few Navies/ Air Forces that have canceled orders or scrapped their NH90s including Norway, Australia and Sweden due to realiabilty and maintenace issues .the dutch have also had issues with their naval NH90s...secondly they don't fit the frigates hangar. The Wildcat is an outside contender as well as few Navies use it and we will fall into the same trap as the Seasprites...

So given our past track record, the NFH90 it will be then

and for $1, we could get a spade and free access to the burial plot in Oz, plus all the other bits we will need!
It's a no-brainer, get the folks who negotiated the Cook Strait Ferry deal involved...

Charl wrote::lol: and for $1, we could get a spade and free access to the burial plot in Oz, plus all the other bits we will need!
It's a no-brainer, get the folks who negotiated the Cook Strait Ferry deal involved...

Up and running by 2035? They can show them off at the Auckland airport second runway opening air show.
Experience and cynicism come hand in hand.