The European manufacturer rebuffed concerns that the decision to stop flying the helicopters was linked to a safety issue following a fatal crash in July.
| Some 400 Australian aerospace support workers face redundancy after the government brought forward the retirement of a fleet of MRH90 Taipan military helicopters, the head of the European manufacturer told Reuters., saying engineers had found no malfunction so far in an Australia-led investigation.Australia’s defence ministry was not immediately available for comment out of hours.
On Friday , Defence Minister Richard Marles said the fleet would not now return to operation before the previously planned withdrawal date of December 2024, with investigations set to last well into 2024.“Today’s announcement does not presuppose or any way suggest the outcome of the investigations into the tragic incident,” he said in a statement.
“At this stage of the investigation no particular technical issue has been identified and we do not believe that the safety of the NH90 is at stake,” he said, adding the official probe was still in progress.“The immediate concern is to support the 400 or so workers in Australian aerospace who will be impacted by this decision because we were organising ourselves to support the Australian fleet until the end of next year,” Aloccio said.
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