Italian defense and aerospace contractor Leonardo announced that its $3.7 billion contract to deliver 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters to Qatar has been finalized.

While initially signed on March 14, 2018, the contract for 16 NH90s in tactical transport (TTH) configuration and 12 NH90s in naval (NFH) configuration has become effective just recently with Leonardo having booked the order in its backlog and received the advance payment relating to the contract.

“We are proud to have made this important contract effective,” Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo CEO, stated. “We continue to be fully focused on executing our Industrial Plan aimed at ensuring long-term sustainable growth for the Group, also strengthening our commercial approach.”

Leonardo will act as prime contractor for the program management with the end customer and Airbus will be responsible for the final assembly and delivery of 16 NH90 TTH aircraft from its facility in Marignane, France while Leonardo will be responsible for final assembly and delivery of the 12 NH90 NFH helicopters from its Venice – Tessera facility in Northern Italy.

The twin-engine, medium-size NH90 helicopter program is managed by the consortium NHIndustries, a company owned by Airbus Helicopters (62.5%), Leonardo (32%), and Fokker (5.5%).