The Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands announced the selection of H225M Caracal (formerly Eurocopter EC725) helicopters from Airbus Helicopters, ordering 14 such machines. These helicopters are intended to replace the Eurocopter AS532 Cougar (renamed H215M), which has been flying since the mid-1990s.
The price of the contract has not been announced, but the delivery dates are extremely delayed and are not expected to start until 2028. Therefore, the AS532 Cougars will be upgraded to be in service until 2030. The new vehicles are to be used by special operations forces.
Interestingly, Airbus’s competitor was the UH-60 Black Hawk from Sikorsky, now part of Lockheed Martin. The choice of a European manufacturer by the Netherlands is not officially explained. However, there is information on the level of local media that it is a matter of the equipment with which the helicopter should be equipped, as well as the capacity of the helicopter – 28 fighters instead of 11.
And considering the fact that we are talking about boards for special forces, it is the additional equipment that plays a decisive role, and perhaps the configuration that was needed by the Dutch military was simply not available for export; it was too expensive.
Also, an objective factor in choosing Airbus for the Netherlands is that it is effectively a “national manufacturer.” And also the fact that the H225M is essentially a development of the AS532, which means that the costs of infrastructure and maintenance of new helicopters are reduced.
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