By: Pierre Tran
PARIS — Airbus Helicopters sales of military rotorcraft rose to 57 percent of 2016 revenue, up from a 50-50 split with civil sales in the previous year, company CEO Guillaume Faury said in a phone briefing Friday.
That increase of sales to armed forces helped the company weather a severe downturn in the global civil helicopter market, weighed by a slide in sales to the oil and gas market.
The increase in military sales was “significantly higher than previous years,” Faury said. “It is the same in orders,” he added, although there were no details in percentage terms.
The company, based in Marignane, southern France, won “very important military contracts last year,” boosting the number of units and also the value “very significantly,” he said.
Orders for the light H145M helicopter showed the importance of converting a civil platform into a military version, he said.
Much of the 2016 military sales were due to deliveries of the NH90 transport helicopter and the 19 Tiger attack helicopters, he said. Last year saw the handover of the 300th NH90. A US selection for service of the Lakota program was a big boost for the company in the service sector.
The 2017 outlook was a similar split between military and civil sales, although the majority of units would be in the civil market, he said.
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