Norway to Return NH90 Military Helicopters and Seek Refund

An NH90 helicopter during the Black Blade military exercise involving several European Union countries and organized by the European Defence Agency at the Florennes airbase in Belgium on Nov. 30, 2016. Yves Herman/Reuters

OSLO—Norway said it would axe its fleet of NH90 military helicopters and ask for a refund from a consortium led by Europe’s Airbus, which hit back by calling the move “legally groundless.”

Norway will return the NH90 military helicopters it ordered from the NHIndustries consortium because they are either unreliable or were delivered late, the defense minister and the head of the military said on Friday.