This investment confirms the central place occupied by Beauvechain within the Defense, the base having become, since 2010 and the arrival of the Agusta A-109 from Bierset, the nerve center of its helicopter capacities.
Recall that since 1996 and the departure of fighter planes F-16, the base has also welcomed the school ensuring the initial training of all the pilots of La Défense. Since the end of 2020, it is also from Beauvechain that the monitoring of Belgian airspace has been carried out within the “Control and Reporting Center” (CRC).
Last year for the four NH-90 TTH
And the future of the base will therefore be written with the H145M. These will replace the venerable Agusta A-109 whose end of life is planned for 2027 and they will also take the place of 4 NH-90 TTH, helicopters of means tactical transport which have never really found their place within the defense. We are talking about NH-90 TTH and not NH-90 NFH, based on coxide and in particular dedicated to sea rescue.
Since June 2020, the NH-90 TTH has not been the priority of defense, faced with the lack of staff, the low industrial support and the cost to make them fly. The first aircraft arrived in Belgium in October 2013 and these helicopters only left once on a mission, it was in Mali, in 2018, as part of MINUSMA, the UN stabilization operation of this West African country.
In September 2023, the Minister of Defense then, Ludivine Donder (PS), assured, however, that the H145M would not replace the NH-90 TTH, contrary to what was indicated in the Star Plan, the strategic vision for the defense, but that they will be complementary to them. However, if the latter were kept, their level of ambition has remained limited and there was no longer any question of engaging them in operation.
And if a new NH-90 TTH and logistics maintenance contract was signed on June 17, 2025 at the Bourget show, in France, for a period of five years, this does not change their situation.
We are confirmed that their 5 pilots will pass on H145M and will start, in 2026, their training to master this new mount.
Therefore, from next year, the NH-90 TTH will remain soil, except for a few technical and maintenance flights. The idea is to keep them in excellent condition in order to transfer them to an interested partner to take over these devices.
Note that the training of technicians for the arrival of H145M will start next September.
Like the NH-90s, the H145M are multi-room but lighter helicopters than the first nominees. They will be used for transport (equipment and troops), medical evacuation, air protection and interception within the framework of the summits of the European Union and NATO in particular. This is why, they can be equipped with machine guns. All the equipment to accommodate rockets, missiles or others is also planned, even if weapons as such have not yet been purchased. We are talking about a versatile device and not a combat helicopter as such.
What about heavy helicopters?
The H145M should be fully operational, for all of his tasks, at the latest in 2030.
Finally, the project to acquire heavy transport helicopters was relaunched by the Minister of Defense Theo Francken. It is taken up in its investment program of € 34 billion presented last week. These should be based in Beauvechain. The date of their arrival is not yet fixed, but it will be beyond 2030.
