MRH90 Taipan is the Australian designation for the NH Industries (Airbus Helicopters) NH90. The MRH90 is in the 10-tonne helicopter class and is capable of carrying two pilots, two loadmasters and 18 combat troops up to 900km at speeds of up to 300km/h. Being a true multi-role machine, the MRH90 can undertake troop transport, search and rescue, special operations and counter-terrorism missions. The helicopter is a single main rotor helicopter of the 10-tonne class, powered by two engines. The engines installed on the MRH90 are the RTM 322-01/9 supplied by Rolls Royce / Turbomeca. The helicopter has a full composite, crashworthy fuselage with a constant cross-section centre fuselage and significant crashworthy capabilities (based on MIL-STD-1290A) giving protection up to 10m/s (landing gear extended) and 7m/s (landing gear retracted) up to 11-tonnes helicopter weight. The forward fuselage contains the cockpit with two crashworthy seats for pilot and co-pilot and a foldable crashworthy jump seat for an additional crew member. The centre fuselage offers a spacious, unobstructed cabin with a sliding door on each side and a rear ramp. The cabin allows the installation of 20 crashworthy troop seats or, alternatively, up to 12 stretchers. The flight control system (FCS) of the MRH90 is based on a redundant fly-by-wire (FBW) system with no mechanical back-up. It provides the MRH90 with enhanced manoeuvrability and keeps the crew workload acceptable at any time during the mission. The Commonwealth of Australia ordered 46 MRH90s from Airbus in Australia Pacific . For more details of the development, models and other user nations, click here.
