Airbus Unveils NATO Rotorcraft Concepts

Digital rendering of NATO Next Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities (NGRC) concepts | Image: Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters has presented two next generation rotorcraft concepts as part of NATO’s Next Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities (NGRC) study.

The concepts were unveiled in Marignane, France, on February 23, 2026. Airbus’ proposal to NATO was developed in collaboration with RTX businesses Collins Aerospace and Raytheon, as well as MBDA. It includes a high-performance conventional helicopter and a high-speed compound rotorcraft design.

According to Airbus, both concepts are intended to offer operational compatibility and share common systems for maintenance, training, weapons and onboard technologies. The company said its approach is based on modularity and a Modular Open System Architecture, with the aim of simplifying manufacturing, maintenance and future upgrades.

“We want to ensure that Europe is in a position to propose a platform that will best fit our military partners’ needs in terms of affordability, operational efficiency and maximum availability for both the conventional helicopter and for the high speed rotorcraft. These two concepts are a basis to further exchange with our military partners on their vision and need for future military operations,” said Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters. “Airbus Helicopters is actively working on the future of its military range. On the one hand, we are preparing the evolution of our legacy range with a continuous improvement policy. With the Block 1 and 2 studies, we have a long-term NH90 evolution roadmap. Our dual product range, the H145M, the H160M, and the H225M, is setting new standards for military helicopters in terms of affordability, connectivity, and maintenance,” he explained. “On the other hand, we are working on the next generation of rotorcraft systems, leveraging modular multi-platform technologies such as connectivity, cybersecurity, crewed-uncrewed teaming, multi-domain collaborative combat, survivability and battle damage repair,” he added.

In July 2024, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency awarded Airbus Helicopters a contract to lead the NGRC concept study. Airbus said its compound design builds on earlier demonstrators such as the X3 and Racer.