The cost of maintaining the helicopter fleet in the French Armed Forces |
| Helen Chachaty |
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24 MAY 2017 | 305 words
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In response to a question from the French deputy François Cornut-Gentille, the French Defence Minister has published the 2016 availability figures for the French Armed Forces' rotary wings, as well as the cost of the scheduled maintenance for this fleet. While costs fell for some fleets between 2014 and 2016, they increased for most of them.
Among the good performers are the H225M Caracals, whose maintenance costs fell from 53.06 million Euro in 2014 to 40.4 million Euro in 2016, but also to a lesser extent the Lynxes, whose costs fell by 2 million Euro (29.34 to 27.31) and the Puma/Super Puma fleet, whose maintenance fell from 107.86 million Euro to 106.95 million Euro - for a fleet of 120 aircraft.
As for fleets whose costs have increased, the most significant increases were recorded for the NH90 fleets, in both their navy (NFH) and army (TTH) versions. So, the fleet of Army Caïmans went from 13 to 21 models between 2014 and 2016 and their maintenance costs rose from 30.03 million to 61.53 million Euro. As for the Navy Caïmans, the increase in the fleet (13 t0 18 helicopters) also saw a 22 million Euro increase in costs, rising from 25.99 to 47 million Euro. As for the other new generation fleet, the Tigre, while MOC costs leapt between 2012 and 2013, soaring from 17.5 to 98.5 million Euro, the increase was lower between 2014 and 2016 (+ 6 million Euro), levelling out a t88.61 million Euro.
Dauphin/Panther maintenance costs increased by 17 million Euro, while Gazelle and Cougar costs rose by 12 million.
In general, helicopter fleet maintenance increased over the 2012-2016 period, with the notable exception of the old faithful Alouette IIIs (19.2 million in 2012, 18.54 million in 2016) and Lynxes (33.7 million in 2012, 27.31 in 2016). Here again, the most significant increases were recorded in the new generation fleets: +40 million for the NH90 NFH, +54 million for the NH90 TTH and +60 million for the Tigres.
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