A report has emerged that shows just 15 percent of Germany's Tiger attack helicopters and only around 12 percent of its NH90 transport helicopters were mission capable as of November 2019. The German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr, has blamed Airbus, which provides contract maintenance services for both types, for the low availability rates, but this also comes as German authorities continue to struggle to improve readiness across the country's military. German newspaper Bild was first to report on the low readiness of the two German military helicopter types on Jan. 1, 2020. A leaked Bundeswehr report that the outlet obtained said that eight out of 53 Tigers and 12 of 99 NH90s were "ready-to-use." Germany took delivery of its first Tiger in 2005 from what was then known as Eurocopter, which morphed into Airbus Helicopters in 2014. The German military received the first NH90, which NHIndustries, a consortium that includes Airbus, produces, in 2006.

Airbus could "only partially meet the contractual obligations" regarding maintenance, the report said, according to Bild. This "incomplete or delayed performance" was a key factor in the readiness problems, the Bundeswehr complained. Germany's Tigers go through a phase maintenance process after ever 400 flight hours, while personnel conduct similar checks on the NH90s after 600 hours. Bild says that Airbus contractors are responsible for half of these checks on the Tiger fleet and around 90 percent of them with regards to the NH90s.

Bundeswehr Personnel reassmble an NH90 after its arrival in the northwestern African country of Mali in 2017.