Australian Army Aviation has suspended MRH90 Taipan helicopter flights following an emergency landing on Wednesday night. The aircraft, derived from the NHI NH22, made a landing during an exercise with special forces. 

In a note, the Australian Ministry of Defense (DoD) reported that all 10 service members on board (six passengers and four crew) survived. Two suffered minor injuries; one for hitting his head and the other for falling into the water. The MRH90 landed in the water around 21:00 (local time) during counterterrorism training. Local media footage shows the helicopter on the shore of Jarvis Bay, with emergency floats deployed. 

Australian Army MRH90 Taipan helicopter (A40-025) ditches into Jervis Bay, NSW during counter-terrorism exercise. All 9 POB survived with 2 sustaining "light injuries" pic.twitter.com/RMWCvtexjp

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According to a witness, the aircraft was hovering over the water when it appeared to have problems. “There were two aircraft – one was completely blacked out and the other had navigation lights on”, said Michael Ungerboeck to the ABC. He was fishing at the time of the accident.

“We started to hear the rotor blades really slowing down and you could see the navigation lights getting real close [to the water], then all of a sudden it turned back on and went up,” he said. “As soon as it took off, there were sparks on top of the rotor blade and a big explosion and then fire came out of the rotor blade. Not long after, it sank - it wasn't hitting the water, you could see it was a controlled water landing."

According to the commander of the Australian Army, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, the incident could have been much worse. “Rapid responses by military personnel and emergency services and well-trained teams prevented a potential tragedy”, said the general. 

The Army has ceased helicopter operations while it investigates the incident. The MRH90 were developed by the consortium NHIndustries, formed by the European companies Leonardo, Airbus and Fokker. Twelve of the 46 aircraft were manufactured in Europe, with the rest locally by Australian Aerospace. 

The MRH90 replaced the older UH-1 Huey and newer UH-60 Black Hawk. However, the program had a series of delays and the model had several problems and low operating rates. In 2021 the MoD decided to prematurely retire the helicopters, opting for the purchase of new UH-60M. The same happened in Sweden e Norway. 

Although it was shut down in Norway and rejected in Sweden and Australia, the NH90 is still in operation in 11 other nations, including France, Germany, Qatar, Belgium and Italy.