An NH-500E2 license built by Breda Nardi NH for the
This foreign military sales helicopter is offered with either a
four- or five-blade main rotor, depending on the model, with a
weapons platform mounted on the lower rear body. This light utility
commercial helicopter could seat five passengers in comfort, and is
used mainly by the military, being very flexible and offering good
all round capabilities. Other missions include: direct air support,
antitank, reconnaissance, observation, and light utility. A single
engine is mounted inside the body with air intakes on top of the
cabin and a blackhole exhaust. The fuselage is teardrop-shaped a
features a round, glassed-in cockpit and landing skids. External
stores are mounted on weapons racks on each side of the fuselage.
Each rack has one hardpoint. The tail fin is boomerang-shaped,
swept-back, and tapered. The tail flats are back-tapered with small
fins attached to the tips, with the flats high-mounted on the fin
forming a T. The rotor is moutned on the lower left of the tail
boom. On 12 February 1998 the Boeing Company announced its
intention to sell its commercial helicopter business. Boeing built
commercial helicopters -- the MD 500 Series, MD 600, and MD
Explorer -- in Mesa, Ariz., where it also produces the AH-64D
Apache Longbow. As of early 1998 the facility employed 5,300, of
which 350 were dedicated to the production of commercial
helicopters. On 25 February 1998 Bell Helicopter Textron announced
a plan to acquire the Boeing MD 500 and MD 600 series product
lines, However, the transaction was dis-approved by competition
authorities at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June 1998.
Subsequently, on 19 January 1999 McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co.,
the indirect subsidiary of The Boeing Company, and MD Helicopters
Holding, Inc., an indirect subsidiary of the Dutch company RDM
Holding, Inc., signed an agreement on an asset purchase of Boeing's
MD 500, MD 600N® and MD Explorer® series of light commercial
helicopter product lines. Included in the product line are the MD
500E and MD 530F® single-engine helicopters with conventional tail
rotors, the MD 520N® and MD 600N single-engine helicopters with
Boeing's exclusive NOTAR® no tail rotor system for anti-torque and
directional control, and the MD Explorer series of twin-engine,
eight-place helicopters. RDM is a European-based industrial group
with aerospace activities. The company designs and builds
diesel-electric submarines and builds and repairs ships,
manufactures and overhauls military vehicles, and produces defense
and aerospace products, including landing gear and transmissions
for aircraft and helicopters. It is a subcontractor to Boeing for
landing gear and fuselage assemblies for Apache helicopters.
