NH90 Offset Agreement - On 24 February 2006, the foundation stone was laid for the composite parts manufacturing building at the Hellenic Aerospace Industries (HAI) site near Athens.

The President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, and numerous figures from the worlds of politics and economics made the official foundation stone ceremony for the new building a very prestigious event indeed. The 2,200 m2 facility will manufacture composite parts for the NH90 and EC135. The significance of this ceremony – the implementation of the offset agreement with HAI, signed by Eurocopter and the Hellenic Ministry of Defense as part of the purchase program for 20 NH90s with 14 options - matched the importance of the officials present.

The agreement will now commence with the construction of the building with Greek partners, which should be finished in October 2006. At the same time, Eurocopter will supply all the machinery required for manufacturing the parts, such as a milling machine, ultrasound facility, laser, numerical control cutting machine, and cooling and painting facilities. All these machines will be transferred to Greece, and integrated on the production line by March 2007, in accordance with the program schedule. Training will commence on site during the summer of 2007 and will end with the qualification stage.

HAI will start supplying Eurocopter with the first parts from 2008 on. The Greek company will manufacture components for the forward and central modules of the NH90, and the Fenestron® fairing of the EC135, which will be sent to Eurocopter España where the EC135 tail boom is manufactured. The new production line will create approximately 30 permanent jobs.