title: Television show

text: The show hires a stable of writers, who typically work in parallel: the first writer works on the first episode, the second on the second episode, etc. When all the writers have been used, episode assignment starts again with the first writer. On other shows, however, the writers work as a team. Sometimes they develop story ideas individually, and pitch them to the show's creator, who folds them together into a script and rewrites them.


title: Television show

text: If the show is picked up and it's an hour-long drama, the network orders a "run" of episodes—usually only six or 13 episodes at first, though if it's a half-hour comedy then the season typically consists of at least 22 episodes. The midseason seven and last nine episodes are sometimes called the "mid-seven" and "back nine"—borrowing the colloquial terms from bowling and golf.


title: Television show

text: The method of "team writing" is employed on some longer dramatic series (usually running up to a maximum of around 13 episodes). The idea for such a program may be generated "in-house" by one of the networks; it could originate from an independent production company (sometimes a product of both). For instance, the BBC's long-running soap opera "EastEnders" is wholly a BBC production, whereas its popular drama "Life on Mars" was developed by Kudos in association with the broadcaster.


title: Television show

text: There are still a significant number of programs (usually sitcoms) that are built by just one or two writers and a small, close-knit production team. These are "pitched" in the traditional way, but since the creators handle all the writing requirements, there is a run of six or seven episodes per series once approval has been given. Many of the most popular British comedies have been made this way, including "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (albeit with an exclusive team of six writer-performers), "Fawlty Towers", "Blackadder" and "The Office".


title: Television show

text: The production company is often separate from the broadcaster. The executive producer, often the show's creator, is in charge of running the show. They pick the crew and help cast the actors, approve and sometimes write series plots—some even write or direct major episodes—while various other producers help to ensure that the show runs smoothly. Very occasionally, the executive producer will cast themselves in the show. As with filmmaking or other electronic media production, producing of an individual episode can be divided into three parts: pre-production, principal photography, and post-production. One of the more popular shows in the Phillipines is Dok Ricky, Pedia.


title: Television show

text: Pre-production begins when a script is approved. A director is chosen to plan the episode's final look.


title: Television show

text: Pre-production tasks include storyboarding; construction of sets, props, and costumes; casting guest stars; budgeting; acquiring resources like lighting, special effects, stunts, etc. Once the show is planned, it must then be scheduled: scenes are often filmed out of sequence, guest actors or even regulars may only be available at certain times. Sometimes the principal photography of different episodes must be done at the same time, complicating the schedule (a guest star might shoot scenes from two episodes on the same afternoon). Complex scenes are translated from storyboard to animatics to further clarify the action. Scripts are adjusted to meet altering requirements.


title: Television show

text: Some shows have a small stable of directors, but also usually rely on outside directors. Given the time constraints of broadcasting, a single show might have two or three episodes in pre-production, one or two episodes in principal photography, and a few more in various stages of post-production. The task of directing is complex enough that a single director can usually not work on more than one episode or show at a time, hence the need for multiple directors.


title: Television show

text: Principal photography is the actual filming of the episode. Director, actors, and crew gather at a television studio or on location for filming or videoing a scene. A scene is further divided into shots, which should be planned during pre-production. Depending on scheduling, a scene may be shot in non-sequential order of the story. Conversations may be filmed twice from different camera angles, often using stand-ins, so one actor might perform all their lines in one set of shots, and then the other side of the conversation is filmed from the opposite perspective. To complete a production on time, a second unit may be filming a different scene on another set or location at the same time, using a different set of actors, an assistant director, and a second unit crew. A director of photography supervises the lighting of each shot to ensure consistency.


title: Television show

text: Live events are usually covered by Outside Broadcast crews using mobile television studios, known as scanners or OB trucks. Although varying greatly depending on the era and subject covered, these trucks were normally crewed by up to 15 skilled operators and production personnel. In the UK for most of the 20th century, the BBC was the preeminent provider of outside broadcast coverage. BBC crews worked on almost every major event, including Royal weddings and funerals, major political and sporting events, and even drama programmes.


title: Television show

text: Once principal photography is complete, producers coordinate tasks to begin the video editing. Visual and digital video effects are added to the film; this is often outsourced to companies specializing in these areas. Often music is performed with the conductor using the film as a time reference (other musical elements may be previously recorded). An editor cuts the various pieces of film together, adds the musical score and effects, determines scene transitions, and assembles the completed show.


title: Television show

text: Most television networks throughout the world are 'commercial', dependent on selling advertising time or acquiring sponsors. Broadcasting executives' main concern over their programming is audience size. In the past, the number of 'free to air' stations was restricted by the availability of channel frequencies, but cable TV (outside the United States, satellite television) technology has allowed an expansion in the number of channels available to viewers (sometimes at premium rates) in a much more competitive environment.


title: Television show

text: In the United States, the average broadcast network drama costs $3million an episode to produce, while cable dramas cost $2million on average. The pilot episode may be more expensive than a regular episode. In 2004, "Lost"'s two-hour pilot cost $10 to $14million, in 2008 "Fringe"'s two-hour pilot cost $10million, and in 2010, "Boardwalk Empire" was $18million for the first episode. In 2011, "Game of Thrones" was $5 to $10million, "Pan Am" cost an estimated $10million, while "Terra Nova"'s two-hour pilot was between $10 to $20million.


title: Television show

text: Many scripted network television shows in the United States are financed through deficit financing: a studio finances the production cost of a show and a network pays a license fee to the studio for the right to air the show. This license fee does not cover the show's production costs, leading to the deficit. Although the studio does not make its money back in the original airing of the show, it retains ownership of the show. This allows the studio to make its money back and earn a profit through syndication and sales of DVDs and Blu-rays. This system places most of the financial risk on the studios; however, a hit show in the syndication and home video markets can more than make up for the misses. Although deficit financing places minimal financial risk on the networks, they lose out on the future profits of big hits since they are only licensing the shows.


title: Television show

text: Costs are recouped mainly by advertising revenues for broadcast networks and some cable channels, while other cable channels depend on subscriptions. In general, advertisers, and consequently networks that depend on advertising, are more interested in the number of viewers within the 18–49 age range than in the total number of viewers. Advertisers are willing to pay more to advertise on shows successful with young adults because they watch less television and are harder to reach. According to "Advertising Age", during the 2007–08 season, "Grey's Anatomy" was able to charge $419,000 per commercial, compared to only $248,000 for a commercial during "", despite CSI having almost five million more viewers on average. Due to its strength with younger viewers, "Friends" was able to charge almost three times as much for a commercial as "Murder, She Wrote", even though the two series had similar total viewer numbers at that time. "Glee" and "The Office" drew fewer total viewers than "NCIS" during the 2009–10 season, but earned an average of $272,694 and $213,617 respectively, compared to $150,708 for NCIS.


title: Television show

text: After production, the show is handed over to the television network, which sends it out to its affiliate stations, which broadcast it in the specified broadcast programming time slot. If the Nielsen ratings are good, the show is kept alive as long as possible. If not, the show is usually canceled. The show's creators are then left to shop around remaining episodes, and the possibility of future episodes, to other networks. On especially successful series, the producers sometimes call a halt to a series on their own like "Seinfeld", "The Cosby Show", "Corner Gas", and "M*A*S*H" and end it with a concluding episode, which sometimes is a big series finale.


title: Television show

text: On rare occasions, a series that has not attracted particularly high ratings and has been canceled can be given a reprieve if home video viewership has been particularly strong. This has happened in the cases of "Family Guy" in the US and "Peep Show" in the UK.


title: Television show

text: In the United States, if the show is popular or lucrative, and a minimum number of episodes (usually 100) have been made, it can go into broadcast syndication, where rights to broadcast the program are then resold for cash or put into a barter exchange (offered to an outlet for free in exchange for airing additional commercials elsewhere in the station's broadcast day).


title: Television show

text: The terminology used to define a set of episodes produced by a television series varies from country to country.


title: Television show

text: In North American television, a series is a connected set of television program episodes that run under the same title, possibly spanning many seasons. Since the late 1960s, this broadcast programming schedule typically includes between 20 and 26 episodes. Before then, a regular television season could average at least 30 episodes, and some TV series may have had as many as 39 episodes in a season.


title: Television show

text: Until the 1980s, most new programs for the US broadcast networks debuted in the "fall season", which ran from September through March and nominally contained from 24 to 26 episodes. These episodes were rebroadcast during the spring (or summer) season, from April through August. Because of cable television and the Nielsen sweeps, the "fall" season now normally extends to May. Thus, a "full season" on a broadcast network now usually runs from September through May for at least 22 episodes.


title: Television show

text: A full season is sometimes split into two separate units with a hiatus around the end of the calendar year, such as the first season of "Jericho" on CBS. When this split occurs, the last half of the episodes sometimes are referred to with the letter B as in "The last nine episodes (of "The Sopranos") will be part of what is being called either "Season 6, Part 2" or "Season 6B", or in ""Futurama" is splitting its seasons similar to how "South Park" does, doing half a season at a time, so this is season 6B for them." Since the 1990s, these shorter seasons also have been referred to as ".5" or half seasons, where the run of shows between September and December is labeled "Season X", and the second run between January and May labeled "Season X.5". Examples of this include the 2004 incarnation of "Battlestar Galactica", ABC's "FlashForward", and ABC Family's "Make It or Break It".


title: Television show

text: Since at least the 2000s, new broadcast television series are often ordered (funded) for just the first 10 to 13 episodes, to gauge audience interest. If a series is popular, the network places a "back nine order" and the season is completed to the regular 20 to 26 episodes. An established series that is already popular, however, will typically receive an immediate full-season order at the outset of the season. A midseason replacement is a less-expensive short-run show of generally 10 to 13 episodes designed to take the place of an original series that failed to garner an audience and has not been picked up. A "series finale" is the last show of the series before the show is no longer produced. (In the UK, it means the end of a season, what is known in the United States as a ""season" finale"). Streaming services time finales to the next quarter to induce consumers to renew at least one more quarter.


title: Television show

text: A standard television season in the United States runs predominantly across the fall and winter, from late September to May. During the summer months of June through roughly mid-September, network schedules typically feature reruns of their flagship programs, first-run series with lower rating expectations, and other specials. First-run scripted series are typically shorter and of a lower profile than those aired during the main season and can also include limited series events. Reality and game shows have also been a fixture of the schedule.


title: Television show

text: In Canada, the commercial networks air most US programming in tandem with the US television season, but their original Canadian shows follow a model closer to British than US television production. Due to the smaller production budgets available in Canada, a Canadian show's season normally runs to a maximum of 13 episodes rather than 20 or more, although an exceptionally popular series such as "Corner Gas" or "Murdoch Mysteries" might receive 20-episode orders in later seasons. Canadian shows do not normally receive "back nine" extensions within the same season, however; even a popular series simply ends for the year when the original production order has finished airing, and an expanded order of more than 13 episodes is applied to the next season's renewal order rather than an extension of the current season. Only the public CBC Television normally schedules Canadian-produced programming throughout the year; the commercial networks typically now avoid scheduling Canadian productions to air in the fall, as such shows commonly get lost amid the publicity onslaught of the US fall season. Instead, Canadian-produced shows on the commercial networks typically air either in the winter as mid-season replacements for canceled US shows or in the summer (which may also improve their chances of being picked up by a US network for a summer run).


title: Television show

text: While network orders for 13- or 22-episode seasons are still pervasive in the television industry, several shows have deviated from this traditional trend. Written to be closed-ended and of shorter length than other shows, they are marketed with a variety of terms.


title: Television show

text: In the United Kingdom and other countries, these sets of episodes are referred to as a "series". In Australia, the broadcasting may be different from North American usage. The terms "series" and "season" are both used and are the same. For example, "Battlestar Galactica" has an original series as well as a remake, both are considered a different series each with their own number of individual seasons.


title: Television show

text: Australian television does not follow "seasons" in the way that US television does; for example, there is no "fall season" or "fall schedule". For many years, popular night-time dramas in Australia would run for much of the year, and would only go into recess during the summer period (December to February, as Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere), when ratings are not taken. Therefore, popular dramas would usually run from February through November each year. This schedule was used in the 1970s for popular dramas including "Number 96". Many drama series, such as "McLeod's Daughters", have received between 22 and 32 episodes per season. Typically, soap operas, which have always run in season format in Australia, such as "Home and Away", would usually begin a new season in late January, while the season finale would air in late November, as the show is off air for two months, or sometimes longer, depending on the schedule. In recent years, a new season would begin in early February, and the season finale would broadcast in early December. Since "Home and Away"s inception, it normally receives 230 episodes per season. Some seasons have seen between 205 and 235 episodes commissioned. During the Olympics, "Home and Away" would often go on hiatus, which was referred to as an "Olympic cliffhanger". Therefore, the number of episodes would decrease. Australian situation comedy series' seasons are approximately 13 episodes long and premiere any time between February and November.


title: Television show

text: British shows have tended toward shorter series in recent years. For example, the first series of long-running science fiction show "Doctor Who" in 1963 featured forty-two 25‑minute episodes, and continued with a similar number each year until it was reduced to twenty-five for 1970 to accommodate changes in production and significantly reducing the actors' workload) and continued to 1984. For 1985 fewer but longer episodes were shown, but even after a return to shorter episodes in 1986, lack of support within the BBC meant fewer episodes were commissioned leading to only fourteen 25‑minute episodes up to those in 1989 after which it was cancelled. The revival of "Doctor Who" from 2005 has comprised thirteen 45‑minute installments. There are some series in the UK that have a larger number of episodes, for example "Waterloo Road" started with 8 to 12 episodes, but from series three onward it increased to twenty episodes and series seven will contain 30 episodes. Recently, US non-cable networks have also begun to experiment with shorter series for some programs, particularly reality shows, such as "Survivor". They often air two series per year, resulting in roughly the same number of episodes per year as a drama.


title: Television show

text: This is a reduction from the 1950s, in which many US shows (e.g. "Gunsmoke") had between 29 and 39 episodes per season. Actual storytelling time within a commercial television hour has also gradually reduced over the years, from 50 minutes out of every 60 to the current 44 (and even less on some networks), beginning in the early 21st century.


title: Television show

text: The usage of "season" and "series" differ for DVD and Blu-ray releases in both Australia and the UK. In Australia, many locally produced shows are termed differently on home video releases. For example, a set of the television drama series "Packed to the Rafters" or "Wentworth" is referred to as "season" ("The Complete First Season", etc.), whereas drama series such as "Tangle" are known as a "series" ("Series 1", etc.). British-produced shows such as "Mrs. Brown's Boys" are referred to as "season" in Australia for the DVD and Blu-ray releases.


title: Television show

text: In the UK and Ireland, most programmes are referred to as 'series' while 'season' is starting to be used for some US and international releases.


title: Television show

text: The 1980s and 1990s was the golden age of television miniseries attracting millions of Egyptians. For example, "Mr. Shalash's Family" miniseries starring Salah Zulfikar was the highest rated at the time.


title: Television show

text: In the United States, dramas produced for hour-long time slots typically are 37 to 42 minutes in length (excluding advertisements), while sitcoms produced for 30-minute time slots typically are 18 to 21 minutes long. There are exceptions: subscription-based TV channels, such as HBO, Starz, Cinemax, and Showtime, have episodes that are 45 to 48 minutes long, similar to the UK.


title: Television show

text: In Britain, dramas typically run from 46 to 48 minutes on commercial channels, and 57 to 59 minutes on the BBC. Half-hour programs are around 22 minutes on commercial channels and around 28 minutes on the BBC. The longer duration on the BBC is due to the lack of advertising breaks.


title: Television show

text: In France, most television shows (whether dramas, game shows or documentaries) have a duration of 52 minutes. This is the same on nearly all French networks (TF1, France 2, France 5, M6, Canal+, etc.).


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Electrolysis of water, also known as electrochemical water splitting, is the process of using electricity to decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen gas by electrolysis. Hydrogen gas released in this way can be used as hydrogen fuel, or remixed with the oxygen to create oxyhydrogen gas, which is used in welding and other applications.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Electrolysis of water requires a minimum potential difference of 1.23 volts, though at that voltage external heat is required from the environment.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In 1789, Jan Rudolph Deiman and Adriaan Paets van Troostwijk used an electrostatic machine to make electricity which was discharged on gold electrodes in a Leyden jar with water. In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, and a few weeks later the English scientists William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used it for the electrolysis of water. In 1806 Humphry Davy reported the results of extensive distilled water electrolysis experiments concluding that nitric acid was produced at the anode from dissolved atmospheric nitrogen gas. He used a high voltage battery and non-reactive electrodes and vessels such as gold electrode cones that doubled as vessels bridged by damp asbestos. When Zénobe Gramme invented the Gramme machine in 1869 electrolysis of water became a cheap method for the production of hydrogen. A method of industrial synthesis of hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis was developed by Dmitry Lachinov in 1888.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: A DC electrical power source is connected to two electrodes, or two plates (typically made from an inert metal such as platinum or iridium) which are placed in the water. Hydrogen will appear at the cathode (where electrons enter the water), and oxygen will appear at the anode. Assuming ideal faradaic efficiency, the amount of hydrogen generated is twice the amount of oxygen, and both are proportional to the total electrical charge conducted by the solution. However, in many cells competing side reactions occur, resulting in different products and less than ideal faradaic efficiency.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Electrolysis of "pure" water requires excess energy in the form of overpotential to overcome various activation barriers. Without the excess energy, the electrolysis of "pure" water occurs very slowly or not at all. This is in part due to the limited self-ionization of water. Pure water has an electrical conductivity about one-millionth that of seawater. Many electrolytic cells may also lack the requisite electrocatalysts. The efficiency of electrolysis is increased through the addition of an electrolyte (such as a salt, an acid or a base) and the use of electrocatalysts.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Currently the electrolytic process is rarely used in industrial applications since hydrogen can currently be produced more affordably from fossil fuels.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In pure water at the negatively charged cathode, a reduction reaction takes place, with electrons (e) from the cathode being given to hydrogen cations to form hydrogen gas. The half reaction, balanced with acid, is:


title: Electrolysis of water

text: At the positively charged anode, an oxidation reaction occurs, generating oxygen gas and giving electrons to the anode to complete the circuit:


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The same half-reactions can also be balanced with the base as listed below. Not all half-reactions must be balanced with acid or base. Many do, like the oxidation or reduction of water listed here. To add half reactions they must both be balanced with either acid or base. The acid-balanced reactions predominate in acidic (low pH) solutions, while the base-balanced reactions predominate in basic (high pH) solutions.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Combining either half reaction pair yields the same overall decomposition of water into oxygen and hydrogen:


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The number of hydrogen molecules produced is thus twice the number of oxygen molecules. Assuming equal temperature and pressure for both gases, the produced hydrogen gas has, therefore, twice the volume of the produced oxygen gas. The number of electrons pushed through the water is twice the number of generated hydrogen molecules and four times the number of generated oxygen molecules.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The decomposition of pure water into hydrogen and oxygen at standard temperature and pressure is not favorable in thermodynamic terms.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Thus, the standard potential of the water electrolysis cell (E = E − E) is -1.229 V at 25 °C at pH 0 ([H] = 1.0 M). At 25 °C with pH 7 ([H] = 1.0 M), the potential is unchanged based on the Nernst equation. The thermodynamic standard cell potential can be obtained from standard-state free energy calculations to find ΔG° and then using the equation: ΔG°= −n F E° (where E° is the cell potential and F the Faraday constant, i.e. 96,485.3321233 C/mol). For two water molecules electrolysed and hence two hydrogen molecules formed, n = 4, and ΔG° = 474.48 kJ/2 mol(water) = 237.24 kJ/mol(water), and ΔS° = 163 J/K mol(water), and ΔH° = 571.66 kJ/2 mol(water) = 285.83 kJ/mol(water), and finally 141.86 MJ/kg(H). However, calculations regarding individual electrode equilibrium potentials requires some corrections taking into account the activity coefficients. In practice when an electrochemical cell is "driven" toward completion by applying reasonable potential, it is kinetically controlled. Therefore, activation energy, ion mobility (diffusion) and concentration, wire resistance, surface hindrance including bubble formation (causes electrode area blockage), and entropy, require a greater applied potential to overcome these factors. The amount of increase in potential required is termed the overpotential.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: If the above described processes occur in pure water, H cations will be consumed/reduced at the cathode and hydroxide ions (OH) anions will be consumed/oxidized at the anode. This can be verified by adding a pH indicator to the water: the water near the cathode is basic while the water near the anode is acidic. The hydroxides OH that approach the anode mostly combine with the positive hydronium ions (HO) to form water. The positive hydronium ions that approach the cathode mostly combine with negative hydroxide ions to form water. Relatively few hydroniums/hydroxide ions reach the cathode/anode. This can cause a concentration overpotential at both electrodes.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Pure water has a charge carrier density similar to semiconductors since it has a low autoionization, K = 1.0×10 at room temperature and thus pure water conducts current poorly, 0.055 µS·cm. Unless a very large potential is applied to cause an increase in the autoionization of water the electrolysis of pure water proceeds very slowly limited by the overall conductivity.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: If a water-soluble electrolyte is added, the conductivity of the water rises considerably. The electrolyte disassociates into cations and anions; the anions rush towards the anode and neutralize the buildup of positively charged H there; similarly, the cations rush towards the cathode and neutralize the buildup of negatively charged OH there. This allows the continuous flow of electricity.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Care must be taken in choosing an electrolyte since an anion from the electrolyte competes with the hydroxide ions to give up an electron. An electrolyte anion with less standard electrode potential than hydroxide will be oxidized instead of the hydroxide, and no oxygen gas will be produced. A cation with a greater standard electrode potential than a hydrogen ion will be reduced instead, and no hydrogen gas will be produced.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The following cations have lower electrode potential than H and are therefore suitable for use as electrolyte cations: Li, Rb, K, Cs, Ba, Sr, Ca, Na, and Mg. Sodium and lithium are frequently used, as they form inexpensive, soluble salts.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: If an acid is used as the electrolyte, the cation is H, and there is no competitor for the H created by disassociating water. The most commonly used anion is sulfate (), as it is very difficult to oxidize, with the standard potential for oxidation of this ion to the peroxydisulfate ion being +2.010 volts.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Strong acids such as sulfuric acid (HSO), and strong bases such as potassium hydroxide (KOH), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are frequently used as electrolytes due to their strong conducting abilities.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: A solid polymer electrolyte can also be used such as Nafion and when applied with a special catalyst on each side of the membrane can efficiently split the water molecule with as little as 1.5  volts. Several other solid electrolyte systems have been trialed and developed with several electrolysis systems now available commercially that use solid electrolytes.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Electrolyte-free pure water electrolysis has been achieved by using deep-sub-Debye-length nanogap electrochemical cells. When the gap distance between cathode and anode even smaller than Debye-length (1 micron in pure water, around 220 nm in distilled water), the double layer regions from two electrodes can overlap, leading to uniformly high electric field distributed inside the entire gap. Such a high electric field can significantly enhance the ion transport inside the water (mainly due to migration), further enhancing self-ionization of water and keeping the whole reaction continuing, and showing small resistance between the two electrodes. In this case, the two half-reactions are coupled together and limited by electron-transfer steps (electrolysis current saturated when further reducing the electrode distance).


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Two leads, running from the terminals of a battery, are placed in a cup of water with a quantity of electrolyte to establish conductivity in the solution. Using NaCl (table salt) in an electrolyte solution results in chlorine gas rather than oxygen due to a competing half-reaction. With the correct electrodes and correct electrolyte, such as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), hydrogen and oxygen gases will stream from the oppositely charged electrodes. Oxygen will collect at the positively charged electrode (anode) and hydrogen will collect at the negatively charged electrode (cathode). Note that hydrogen is positively charged in the HO molecule, so it ends up at the negative electrode. (And vice versa for oxygen.)


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Note that an aqueous solution of water with chloride ions, when electrolyzed, will result in either OH if the concentration of Cl is low, or in chlorine gas being preferentially discharged if the concentration of Cl is greater than 25% by mass in the solution.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The Hofmann voltameter is often used as a small-scale electrolytic cell. It consists of three joined upright cylinders. The inner cylinder is open at the top to allow the addition of water and the electrolyte. A platinum electrode is placed at the bottom of each of the two side cylinders, connected to the positive and negative terminals of a source of electricity. When current is run through the Hofmann voltameter, gaseous oxygen forms at the anode (positive) and gaseous hydrogen at the cathode (negative). Each gas displaces water and collects at the top of the two outer tubes, where it can be drawn off with a stopcock.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Many industrial electrolysis cells are very similar to Hofmann voltameters, with complex platinum plates or honeycombs as electrodes. Generally, the only time hydrogen is intentionally produced from electrolysis is for the specific point of use application such as is the case with oxyhydrogen torches or when extremely high purity hydrogen or oxygen is desired. The vast majority of hydrogen is produced from hydrocarbons and as a result, contains trace amounts of carbon monoxide among other impurities. The carbon monoxide impurity can be detrimental to various systems including many fuel cells.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: High-pressure electrolysis is the electrolysis of water with a compressed hydrogen output around 12–20 MPa (120–200 Bar, 1740–2900 psi). By pressurising the hydrogen in the electrolyser, the need for an external hydrogen compressor is eliminated; the average energy consumption for internal compression is around 3%.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: High-temperature electrolysis (also HTE or steam electrolysis) is a method currently being investigated for water electrolysis with a heat engine. High temperature electrolysis may be preferable to traditional room-temperature electrolysis because some of the energy is supplied as heat, which is cheaper than electricity, and because the electrolysis reaction is more efficient at higher temperatures.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: A water ionizer (also known as analkaline ionizer) is a home appliance which claims to raise the pH of drinking water by using electrolysis to separate the incoming water stream into acidic and alkaline components. The alkaline stream of the treated water is called "alkaline water". Proponents claim that consumption of alkaline water results in a variety of health benefits, making it similar "to the alternative health practice of alkaline diets. Such claims violate basic principles of chemistry and physiology. There is no medical evidence for any health benefits of alkaline water. Extensive scientific evidence has completely debunked these claims.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The machines originally became popular in Japan and other East Asian countries before becoming available in the U.S. and Europe.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: A proton-exchange membrane, or polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM), is a semipermeable membrane generally made from ionomers and designed to conduct protons while acting as an electronic insulator and reactant barrier, e.g. to oxygen and hydrogen gas. This is their essential function when incorporated into a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell or of a proton-exchange membrane electrolyser: separation of reactants and transport of protons while blocking a direct electronic pathway through the membrane.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: PEMs can be made from either pure polymer membranes or from composite membranes, where other materials are embedded in a polymer matrix. One of the most common and commercially available PEM materials is the fluoropolymer (PFSA) Nafion, a DuPont product. While Nafion is an ionomer with a perfluorinated backbone like Teflon, there are many other structural motifs used to make ionomers for proton-exchange membranes. Many use polyaromatic polymers, while others use partially fluorinated polymers.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Proton-exchange membranes are primarily characterized by proton conductivity (σ), methanol permeability ("P"), and thermal stability.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: PEM fuel cells use a solid polymer membrane (a thin plastic film) which is permeable to protons when it is saturated with water, but it does not conduct electrons.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Supercritical water electrolysis (SWE) uses water in a supercritical state, which changes the properties of water such that less electrical energy is required to split the water bonds of hydrogen and oxygen, therefore improving the electrical efficiency and reducing the costs. The increased temperature (>375°C) reduces thermodynamic barriers and increases kinetics, improved ionic conductivity over liquid or gaseous water, reduces the ohmic losses. Benefits include improved electrical efficiency, >221bar pressurised delivery of product gases, ability to operate at high current densities and low dependence on precious metals for catalysts. No commercial SWE equipment exists, however there are companies attempting to commercialise.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In 2014, researchers announced an electrolysis system made of inexpensive, abundant nickel and iron rather than precious metal catalysts, such as platinum or iridium. The nickel-metal/nickel-oxide structure is more active than pure nickel metal or pure nickel oxide alone. The catalyst significantly lowers the required voltage. Also nickel–iron batteries are being investigated for use as combined batteries and electrolysis for hydrogen production. Those "battolysers" could be charged and discharged like conventional batteries, and would produce hydrogen when fully charged.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In 2017, researchers reported using nanogap electrochemical cells to achieve high-efficiency electrolyte-free pure water electrolysis at room temperature. In nanogap electrochemical cells, the two electrodes are so close to each other (even smaller than Debye-length in pure water) that the mass transport rate can be even higher than the electron-transfer rate, leading to two half-reactions coupled together and limited by electron-transfer step. Experiments show that the electrical current density from pure water electrolysis can be even larger than that from 1  mol/L sodium hydroxide solution. The mechanism, "Virtual Breakdown Mechanism", is completely different from the well-established traditional electrochemical theory, due to such nanogap size effect.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: About five percent of hydrogen gas produced worldwide is created by electrolysis. Currently, most industrial methods produce hydrogen from natural gas instead, in the steam reforming process. The majority of the hydrogen produced through electrolysis is a side product in the production of chlorine and caustic soda. This is a prime example of a competing for side reaction.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In the chloralkali process (electrolysis of brine) a water/sodium chloride mixture is only half the electrolysis of water since the chloride ions are oxidized to chlorine rather than water being oxidized to oxygen. Thermodynamically, this would not be expected since the oxidation potential of the chloride ion is less than that of water, but the rate of the chloride reaction is much greater than that of water, causing it to predominate. The hydrogen produced from this process is either burned (converting it back to water), used for the production of specialty chemicals, or various other small-scale applications.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Additionally, many car companies have recently begun researching using water as a fuel source, converting it into hydrogen and oxygen via water electrolysis, and using the hydrogen as fuel in a Hydrogen vehicle, however, have not met much success due to the unstable characteristics of hydrogen as a fuel source.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Efficiency of modern hydrogen generators is measured by "energy consumed per standard volume of hydrogen" (MJ/m), assuming standard temperature and pressure of the H. The lower the energy used by a generator, the higher its efficiency would be; a 100%-efficient electrolyser would consume (higher heating value) of hydrogen, . Practical electrolysis (using a rotating electrolyser at 15 bar pressure) may consume , and a further if the hydrogen is compressed for use in hydrogen cars. By adding external heat at , electricity consumption may be reduced.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Electrolyzer vendors provide efficiencies based on enthalpy. To assess the claimed efficiency of an electrolyzer it is important to establish how it was defined by the vendor (i.e. what enthalpy value, what current density, etc.).


title: Electrolysis of water

text: There are three main technologies available on the market: alkaline, solid oxide, and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Alkaline electrolyzers are cheaper in terms of investment (they generally use nickel catalysts), but least efficient. PEM electrolyzers are more expensive (they generally use expensive platinum-group metal catalysts) but are more efficient and can operate at higher current densities, and can, therefore, be possibly cheaper if the hydrogen production is large enough. Solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC) are the third most common type of electrolysis, and use high operating temperatures to increase efficiency. The theoretical electrical efficiency of SOEC is close to 100% at 90% hydrogen production. Degradation of the system over time does not affect the efficiency of SOEC electrolyzers initially unlike PEM and alkaline electrolyzers. As the SOEC system degrades, the cell voltage increases, producing more heat in the system naturally. Due to this, less energy is required to keep the system hot, which will make up for the energy losses from dramatic degradation initially.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Conventional alkaline electrolysis has an efficiency of about 70%. Accounting for the accepted use of the higher heating value (because inefficiency via heat can be redirected back into the system to create the steam required by the catalyst), average working efficiencies for PEM electrolysis are around 80%. This is expected to increase to between 82–86% before 2030. Theoretical efficiency for PEM electrolysers are predicted up to 94%.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Considering the industrial production of hydrogen, and using current best processes for water electrolysis (PEM or alkaline electrolysis) which have an effective electrical efficiency of 70–80%, producing 1 kg of hydrogen (which has a specific energy of 143 MJ/kg) requires of electricity. At an electricity cost of $0.06/kW·h, as set out in the US Department of Energy hydrogen production targets for 2015, the hydrogen cost is $3/kg. Equipment cost depends on mass production. , different analysts predict annual manufacture of equipment by 2030 as 47 GW, 104 GW and 180 GW, respectively.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: With the range of natural gas prices from 2016 as shown in the graph (Hydrogen Production Tech Team Roadmap, November 2017) putting the cost of steam-methane-reformed (SMR) hydrogen at between $1.20 and $1.50, the cost price of hydrogen via electrolysis is still over double 2015 DOE hydrogen target prices. The US DOE target price for hydrogen in 2020 is $2.30/kg, requiring an electricity cost of $0.037/kW·h, which is achievable given 2018 PPA tenders for wind and solar in many regions. This puts the $4/gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) H dispensed objective well within reach, and close to a slightly elevated natural gas production cost for SMR.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In other parts of the world, the price of SMR hydrogen is between $1–3/kg on average. This makes production of hydrogen via electrolysis cost competitive in many regions already, as outlined by Nel Hydrogen and others, including an article by the IEA examining the conditions which could lead to a competitive advantage for electrolysis. The large price increase of gas during the 2021–2022 global energy crisis made hydrogen electrolysis economic in some parts of the world.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Some large industrial electrolyzers are operating at several megawatts. , the largest is a 150 MW alkaline facility in Ningxia, China, with a capacity up to 23,000 tonnes per year. While higher-efficiency Western electrolysis equipment can cost $1,200/kW, lower-efficiency Chinese equipment can cost $300/kW, but with a lower lifetime of 60,000 hours.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Real water electrolyzers require higher voltages for the reaction to proceed. The part that exceeds 1.23 V is called overpotential or overvoltage, and represents any kind of loss and nonideality in the electrochemical process.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: For a well designed cell the largest overpotential is the reaction overpotential for the four-electron oxidation of water to oxygen at the anode; electrocatalysts can facilitate this reaction, and platinum alloys are the state of the art for this oxidation. Developing a cheap, effective electrocatalyst for this reaction would be a great advance, and is a topic of current research; there are many approaches, among them a 30-year-old recipe for molybdenum sulfide, graphene quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, perovskite, and nickel/nickel-oxide. Tri‐molybdenum phosphide (Mo3P) has been recently found as a promising nonprecious metal and earth‐abundant candidate with outstanding catalytic properties that can be used for electrocatalytic processes. The catalytic performance of Mo3P nanoparticles is tested in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), indicating an onset potential of as low as 21 mV, H2 formation rate, and exchange current density of 214.7 µmol s−1 g−1 cat (at only 100 mV overpotential) and 279.07 µA cm−2, respectively, which are among the closest values yet observed to platinum. The simpler two-electron reaction to produce hydrogen at the cathode can be electrocatalyzed with almost no overpotential by platinum, or in theory a hydrogenase enzyme. If other, less effective, materials are used for the cathode (e.g. graphite), large overpotentials will appear.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: The electrolysis of water in standard conditions requires a theoretical minimum of 237 kJ of electrical energy input to dissociate each mole of water, which is the standard Gibbs free energy of formation of water. It also requires energy to overcome the change in entropy of the reaction. Therefore, the process cannot proceed below 286 kJ per mol if no external heat/energy is added.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: Since each mole of water requires two moles of electrons, and given that the Faraday constant "F" represents the charge of a mole of electrons (96485 C/mol), it follows that the minimum voltage necessary for electrolysis is about 1.23 V. If electrolysis is carried out at high temperature, this voltage reduces. This effectively allows the electrolyser to operate at more than 100% electrical efficiency. In electrochemical systems this means that heat must be supplied to the reactor to sustain the reaction. In this way thermal energy can be used for part of the electrolysis energy requirement. In a similar way the required voltage can be reduced (below 1 V) if fuels (such as carbon, alcohol, biomass) are reacted with water (PEM based electrolyzer in low temperature) or oxygen ions (solid oxide electrolyte based electrolyzer in high temperature). This results in some of the fuel's energy being used to "assist" the electrolysis process and can reduce the overall cost of hydrogen produced.


title: Electrolysis of water

text: However, observing the entropy component (and other losses), voltages over 1.48 V are required for the reaction to proceed at practical current densities (the thermoneutral voltage).


title: Electrolysis of water

text: In the case of water electrolysis, Gibbs free energy represents the minimum "work" necessary for the reaction to proceed, and the reaction enthalpy is the amount of energy (both work and heat) that has to be provided so the reaction products are at the same temperature as the reactant (i.e. standard temperature for the values given above). Potentially, an electrolyzer operating at 1.48 V would operate isothermally at a temperature of 25 C as the electrical energy supplied would be equal to the enthalpy (heat) of water decomposition and this would require 20% more electrical energy than the minimum.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born July 19, 1976) is an American film actress and model. She began her career as a child actor, and had her breakout role in Disney's 1993 Halloween comedy-fantasy film "Hocus Pocus". Shaw also appeared in "Ladybugs" (1992) and "L.A. Without a Map" (1998).


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: While attending Barnard College, Shaw was cast in a supporting role in Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), after which she decided to continue acting into her adulthood. Subsequent roles include in the comedy "40 Days and 40 Nights" (2002), and the 2006 remake of Wes Craven's horror film "The Hills Have Eyes". She was a supporting cast member in the Showtime drama "Ray Donovan", and starred as Dr. Jane Mathis in the 2017 horror thriller "Clinical".


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw was born on July 19, 1976, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Larry Shaw and actress Susan Damante. Shaw's father, a native of Los Angeles, is a psychologist and former adjunct professor of psychology at Antioch University. Her family's original surname was "Schwartz", and her ancestry includes Jewish (from her paternal grandfather), Italian (from her maternal grandfather), German, Irish, English, Mexican, and Swedish. Her name, "Vinessa", spelled with an "i" rather than the common "a", was a variation of her grandfather's name, Vincent.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: Shaw made her first formal performance in a UCLA acting camp short at age 10, and subsequently toured with children's folk singer Peter Alsop at age 11. She also signed on with the Elite Models agency in 1989 at the age of 13 before beginning her acting career, and did a few modeling jobs and commercial work throughout her earlier career.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: Shaw had made her film debut in a little-known-of 1981 slasher film called "Home Sweet Home", which dealt with a serial killer targeting a family at Thanksgiving time. She then landed parts in a handful of television roles. She played a considerably larger role in Disney's 1993 Halloween family film "Hocus Pocus" alongside Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, and a young Thora Birch. Shaw completed roles in various independent films for the remainder of the 1990s.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: In 1998, she enrolled at Barnard College in New York City, but dropped out to continue pursuing acting. Shaw was attending the college when she was approached by Stanley Kubrick for her role in "Eyes Wide Shut", playing a prostitute who is encountered by Tom Cruise's character. In a 2008 interview, Shaw stated that Kubrick was "very influential" to her and that he "was the first person who encouraged her to continue acting". At the time of being cast, she was in college and considering alternate career options. Following her role in "Eyes Wide Shut", Shaw played parts in a handful of films including the independent 2000 mystery-drama "The Weight of Water" with Sarah Polley and Sean Penn; the slapstick comedy "Corky Romano" alongside Chris Kattan; the romantic comedy "40 Days and 40 Nights", playing the feisty ex-girlfriend of Josh Hartnett's character; and a very small role in Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda".


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: More low budget and independent films consumed Shaw's time until 2006, where she returned to the big screen in Alexandre Aja's remake of Wes Craven's exploitation-horror film "The Hills Have Eyes", playing a young mother on a camping trip with her family who is attacked by bloodthirsty mutants in the New Mexico desert. Director Aja had wanted to cast her in the film after seeing her performance in "Eyes Wide Shut". Asked why she wanted to act in a horror film, Shaw responded "Well, I guess I could be good in it since I'm so frightened of those kinds of concepts. But this one in particular really attracted me because of the filmmakers. I really thought that they had a great stance on it. Like it's very different, very heartfelt, and heartbreaking because of the characters involved. So that's kind of what made the difference. It was more of an actor's piece, if you can believe that, in a horror movie." Shaw was featured on the official one sheet promotion poster for the film, which was a box-office success.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: Shaw was in the 2007 remake of the classic Western film "" with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, the indie drama film "Garden Party", as well having a leading role in "Two Lovers" alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow. That film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and was released theatrically in February 2009.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: In 2013, she had a supporting role opposite Jude Law's character, playing his wife in "Side Effects".


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: Shaw was raised a Buddhist. She embraced Nichiren Buddhist philosophy as a member of the Soka Gakkai International during her first year attending college in 1996: "I was lonely and depressed, and I had so many questions about life. I called my dad every night crying, saying that I wanted to go home." As a core practice of Nichiren Buddhism, Shaw chants daimoku daily, and is also a facilitator of the SGI-USA lay Buddhist Association for Peace, Culture, and Education.


title: Vinessa Shaw

text: In August 2017, Shaw announced that she is expecting her first child with her husband, Kristopher Gifford (whom she first dated in 2007, got engaged to in 2008 and married in 2017). Shaw gave birth to their son, Jack.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter. It was developed in response to NATO requirements for a battlefield helicopter which would also be capable of being operated in naval environments. The NH90 was developed and is manufactured by NHIndustries, a collaborative company owned by Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo (formerly AgustaWestland) and Fokker Aerostructures. The first prototype conducted its maiden flight in December 1995; the type first entered operational service in 2007. As of June 2022, the NH90 has logged 327,053 flight hours in the armed forces of thirteen countries.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 is the first production helicopter to feature entirely fly-by-wire flight controls. There are two main variants, the Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) for army use and the navalised NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH); each customer typically has various alterations and customisations made to their own NH90 fleets, such as different weapons, sensors, and cabin arrangements, to meet their own specific requirements.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: Since its introduction into service, the NH90 has suffered several technical issues, which have delayed active deployment of the type by some operators. In 2022 Norway terminated the program and demanded a full refund, while Australia decided to retire the type 10 years ahead of schedule.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 1985, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom teamed to develop a NATO battlefield transport and anti-ship/anti-submarine helicopter for the 1990s. The United Kingdom left the team in 1987. On 1 September 1992, NH Industries signed an NH90 design-and-development contract with NAHEMA (NATO Helicopter Management Agency). This agency represented the four participating states: France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Portugal later joined the agency in June 2001. Design work on the helicopter started in 1993. The first prototype, PT1, made the type's first flight on 18 December 1995. The second prototype, PT2, first flew on 19 March 1997 and the third prototype, PT3, on 27 November 1998. On 12 December 2002, PT3 became the first helicopter to fly exclusively with fly-by-wire controls following the removal of mechanical back-up controls.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 was developed into two main variants: the Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) and the NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH). These two main variants share about 75% commonality with each other. Many of the operators have requested specific configurations to their own helicopter fleets, thus each country's NH90 is effectively customized to the end-user's requirements. During the development phase of the programme in the 1990s, both technical and funding problems were experienced. In June 2000, the partner states placed a large production order, worth US$8.6 billion, for a total of 366 helicopters. Additional orders have since followed from customers in Europe, Asia, and Australia. By April 2013, a total of 529 NH90s of all variants were on order by various customers.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 was initially intended to be produced at three exporting final assembly lines (FAL): Cascina Costa in Italy for AgustaWestland, Marignane in France and Donauwörth in Germany for Airbus Helicopters. The Nordic and Australian contracts stipulated production locally (the Nordic ones at Patria in Finland and the Australian ones in Brisbane). Spain has a final assembly line at Albacete. The Marignane assembly line can reportedly complete up to 22 NH90s per year.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: Items built by the shareholding companies are then distributed to the six locations for assembly and flight test (Marignane, France; Tessera, Italy; Donauwörth, Germany; Halli, Finland; and Brisbane, Australia).


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In late 2006, the German Army, the first customer to receive production aircraft, accepted delivery of its first NH90 TTH. In April 2010, the Royal Netherlands Navy was the first customer to receive the navalised NH90 NFH variant. In June 2014, the consortium announced that it had completed delivery of the 200th NH90; at that point, the backlog of orders was reported as reaching out to 2020. In order to alleviate delays and reduce the complexity of manufacturing a large number of NH90 variants, NH Industries proposed the adoption of a simplified baseline airframe which could be configured to the individual customer's requirements. Between 2004 and 2016, the production lead times for the NH90 had reduced from 18 months to 7.5 months.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2014, worldwide production of the NH90 peaked at 53 helicopters. In October 2015, the delivery of the 250th NH90 was formally accepted by the Italian Army. In 2015, the rate of NH90 production declined, reportedly due to countries choosing to delay their orders and some contracts having been fulfilled; in 2016, the Finnish final assembly line became the first to close with its orders completed.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2010, German tabloid "Bild" reported that German Army experts had concerns that the helicopter was not yet ready for the transportation of combat troops. They stated that the seats were rated for only 110 kg (240 lb), not considered enough for a fully equipped soldier. Heavy infantry weapons could not be adequately secured and the cabin floor was prone to damage, citing an anecdote of damage caused by footwear. The helicopter could only land on firm ground, with obstacles not exceeding 16 cm (6.3 in). Troops carrying full equipment could not use the rear ramp due to weight-limitations placed on it. Adding a door machine gun was not possible due to space taken by troop ingress and egress; there was also no provision for fast roping or paratrooper equipment. In response, the German Defense Ministry proclaimed that this article referred to a prototype, not to the production model; the specifications for which were not even finalised at the time. The prototype evaluation and its results were described as a normal procedure in an ongoing design process.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In November 2011, the MRH90 program was placed on the Australian Department of Defence's "Projects of Concern" list. The most serious problem identified by a diagnostic review, which caused a brief grounding in 2010, is compressor blade rubbing caused by the bending of a spool in the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engine due to uneven cooling after shutdown. Other problems identified include failure of transmission oil cooler fans, windscreen cracking, an inertial navigation system that is slow to align, and the weakness of the cabin floor to withstand the impact of soldiers’ boots – a problem also encountered in German service.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In March 2014, it was announced that a Dutch NH90 had suffered higher than expected fuselage wear and corrosion following an extended deployment at sea; analysis by the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory attributed the corrosion to design and assembly flaws. However, the aircraft were not grounded. In response, NHI Industries launched a corrosion prevention programme and enacted several design modifications. In December 2014, Dutch NH90 deliveries, which had been temporarily halted earlier in the year, restarted after the majority of identified points were addressed and an agreement was made by the manufacturer to bear the cost of developing modifications, repairs, and preventive measures against corrosion.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The operating cost of a NH90 HCV (High Cabin Version) was reported as being at least 242,000 SEK per hour flown, or about US$28,000, in 2018.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 was designed to fulfill a NATO staff requirement for a multi-role, medium-sized military helicopter for both land and maritime operations. According to Flight International, the NH90 has the distinction of being the first helicopter in the world to be developed in line with NATO requirements. As such, the design of the NH90 meets with multiple national and international standards, including military airworthiness processes in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands; conformance with FAR 29 and MIL-STDS design standards, as well as DEF-STN 00-970 icing conditions performance and electro-magnetic compatibility. It is produced in two principal variants, the battlefield Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) and the maritime NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH).


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: One key innovation of the rotorcraft is the four-channel fly-by-wire control system employed; the NH90 is the first helicopter in the world to be equipped with full fly-by-wire flight controls. A four-axis autopilot is also integrated with the fly-by-wire system, as are mission and navigation systems to enable greater autonomy during operations and to reduce pilot workload. The flight envelope of the NH90 is capable of all-weather day-and-night operations, ship-borne operations during high sea states, across a temperature range from −40 °C to +50 °C, and up to a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet. Power is provided by a pair of turboshaft engines, dependent on customer selection, the NH90 is either fitted with Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 or General Electric CT7-8F powerplants; exhaust gases from the engines are filtered through an infrared suppression system for decreased sensory visibility. According to Airbus Helicopters, the NH90 possesses the lowest radar signature in its class, principally due to its diamond-shaped composite fuselage.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 features an advanced composite airframe, designed for ballistic tolerance, a high level of crashworthiness, lower weight, and 30 per cent greater endurance than a metallic counterpart. The four main rotor blades are also composed of composite materials, increasing fatigue strength and lifespan while providing for greater damage tolerance. The unobstructed main cabin area is entered either by large sliding doors on either side of the fuselage or via a rear ramp, the cabin is designed to accommodate modular equipment packages to enable the rotorcraft to be rapidly reconfigured, providing for operational flexibility. In a troop-transport capacity, the cabin can accommodate up to 20 fully equipped soldiers, or up to 12 stretchers in a medical evacuation role, some light vehicles may also be transported; the main cabin is equipped with environmental control systems and sound proofing measures to improve passenger conditions.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 can be equipped with various mission-specific systems, including modular armor plating around the cabin area for undertaking high-risk missions and an ice protection system for operations within cold climates. It can also make use of the In-Hover Flight Refuelling System (HIFR) as well as additional internal and external fuel tanks to conduct extended range missions. Other equipment includes a wire strike protection system, rappelling system, hoist, cargo hook, search light and various seating options, including crashworthy foldable seats. For performing maritime operations, such tasked NH90s are typically equipped with the Harpoon deck-locking system, automatic main rotor blade and tail folding mechanisms, and other deck handling systems to conduct all-weather ship-borne operations; it is also typically outfitted with dipping sonar and sonobuoy processing equipment.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The NH90 features a range of customizable avionics systems, dependent on customer selection and purpose. On some models, French firm Thales Group provides various parts of the avionics, such as the glass cockpit, full-colour multifunction displays, tactical mission and encrypted communication systems, the TopOwl helmet-mounted sight/display, IFF and autonomous navigation systems, and the electrical power generation system. Other systems include a forward looking infrared (FLIR), weather radar, digital map generation system, enhanced ground proximity warning system, personal locator system, and VHF/UHF/HF tactical radios. In 2015, the NH90 became the first helicopter to receive a laser-based airborne collision avoidance system. Onboard mission systems feature a dual-redundant databus, are compliant with MIL-STD 1553, and are comprehensively managed via sensor fusion functionality. Customer demand for future avionics improvements such as new data links and communication systems, as well as additional electro-optical sensors, have been anticipated by the manufacturer.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The helicopter is equipped with emergency floats which deploy in case of a water landing and are designed to buy the crew enough time to exit the helicopter before it sinks.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2005, Australia ordered 12 aircraft to replace its aging fleet of Army UH-1 Iroquois helicopters. In June 2006, the Australian Defence Force announced plans to replace its UH-60 Black Hawk and Westland Sea King helicopters; a further 34 NH90s were ordered, for an ordered total of 46; four being manufactured in Europe, and 42 being manufactured locally by Australian Aerospace (an Airbus Helicopters subsidiary) in Brisbane. The type is designated MRH-90 Taipan, 'MRH' stands for Multi Role Helicopter. Six examples are operated by 808 Squadron of the Royal Australian Navy, which was reformed in 2011 and recommissioned in 2013. The other 40 are operated by the Australian Army.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: On 20 April 2010, an ADF MRH90 suffered a single engine failure near Adelaide, landing safely at RAAF Base Edinburgh. NHI Industries sent personnel to Australia to investigate the failure. On 18 May the ADF announced that the MRH90 fleet was grounded due to engine issues since the April incident. The cause of the failure was determined as the compressor blade contacting the engine casing, leading to new preventative inspections; flights resumed in July 2010. In June 2011, the NFH variant lost to the Sikorsky MH-60R in competition to replace the Royal Australian Navy S-70B Sea Hawks.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In July 2014, the Australian National Audit Office released a report on the MRH90, citing a series of procurement errors and development deficiencies delaying final operational capability (FOC), originally planned for that month, until April 2019, nearly five years later than planned. Some nine years after the initial contract was signed, the models first delivered in 2007 had not validated any of the 11 set operational capability milestones, and forced redesigns including bolstered cabin floors and windscreens, rappelling hooks, and door gunner positions; obtaining spare parts and sustaining the helicopters has also been more costly. The Australian Army will be forced to operate its aging S-70A Black Hawk beyond their planned retirement date. Due to the delays, Australia will receive an additional helicopter, for a total of 47. By September 2015, most of the MRH90's flaws had reportedly been addressed. In June 2017, the Australian Navy successfully completed trials aboard , marking a major milestone in the helicopter programme.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2015, the Australian Army decided to delay retiring 20 Black Hawks by 4 years until the end of 2021 in order to develop a special operations capable MRH90. This required developing a Fast Roping and Rappelling Extraction System (FRRES) and a gun mount for the cabin door. The Taipan Gun Mount can fit either a M134D minigun or MAG 58 machine gun and when not in use can be moved into a outward stowed position to provide clearance to enable fast roping and rappelling. In February 2019, the first two of 12 MRH90 helicopters were delivered to the 6th Aviation Regiment. On 24 June 2021, all Australian NH-90s were temporarily grounded due to lack of maintenance and spare parts which have to be shipped from Europe to Australia. In December 2021, on the same day the Black Hawk fleet was retired, the Australian government announced that it would replace the Army's fleet of MRH90s with new UH-60M Black Hawks. In May 2022, the government announced that it would replace the Navy's fleet of MRH90s with MH-60R Seahawks.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2007, Belgium signed on for a firm order of 8 aircraft (4 TTH, 4 NFH) and an option for 2 additional TTH. In September 2012, NHI performed the first flight of the Belgium's Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH), which is broadly similar to the French NH90 “Caiman” version. In January 2013, eight NH90s were on firm order. On 1 August 2013, Belgium received its first NH90 NFH at Full Operational Capability (FOC). On 23 October 2013, Belgium's first NH90 TTH entered service, the last was delivered on 13 November 2014. From first delivery until the last, three NH90s flew 34 hours a month for a total of 450 flight hours with a 67 percent availability rate, making Belgium one of the type's most intensive users. Two NH90 NFHs for the navy were delivered, the final two were delivered by early 2015 to replace their Westland Sea King helicopters for Search and Rescue operations.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: On 21 August 2015, the Belgian Navy declared its NH90s had attained initial operational readiness; on 28 August 2015, the first rescue mission performed by a Belgian Navy NH90 took place.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In June 2020, The Strategic Defence Review (STAR) of Belgium planned to phase out the 4 TTH helicopters by 2024 due to their high operating costs and low availability. They are planned to be replaced, along with the last Agusta 109, by 15 Airbus H145M helicopters. The 4 NFH variants are to remain operational and be provided with currently lacking sensors and weapons for anti-submarine warfare.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In October 2001, Finland signed a contract for 20 NH90 TTHs for the Finnish Army to replace its ageing fleet of Mil Mi-8 helicopters. In March 2008, NH Industries began NH90 deliveries to Finland; deliveries had been delayed from an initial 2004 date, to minimize further delay, aircraft were first delivered to an Initial Operational Configuration (IOC-) and Nearly Operational Configuration (IOC+), to be later modified by Patria into a Final Operational Configuration (FOC). In September 2011, the Finnish Defence Forces and Patria signed an agreement to provide ballistic protection for onboard personnel across the NH90 fleet.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In June 2011, nine Finnish NH90s participated in the Finnish Defense Forces' main field exercise, transporting 157 soldiers across 320 kilometers in two rotations; their performance was described as having exceeded expectations. In January 2015, it was reported that Finnish NH90s had been experiencing considerable reliability issues, at one time in 2014 fleet availability dipped to 19%, and some spare parts had up to seven months waiting time. By early 2015, the combined NH90s fleet had accumulated a total of 7,000 flight hours, and had an availability rate of 40%. On 18 June 2015, delivery of the final Finnish NH90 took place. In November 2015, the availability rate was reported as having surpassed 50 percent. All helicopters were in Final Operational Configuration (FOC) in 2018, 17 years after order.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The French government had initially ordered a total of 34 NH90 TTHs for the French Army Light Aviation and 27 NFH for the Navy. Both versions will be named "Caïman" and final assembly will be carried out by Airbus Helicopters. The French Army had intended to buy 68 NH90; however, the April 2013 defence review could have cancelled the contract for the second batch of 34. Under the "Bonn rebate" deal, France receives a 12% discount on its 68 Army helicopters; a November 2012 Senate report put the French TTH per unit price at €28.6M after discount, set on the assumption of total orders of 605 aircraft by 2020. Cuts to France's order would result in workshare reallocation; possibly including French Navy NFH90s being assembled in Italy and Fokker performing maintenance of French TTHs. On 29 May 2013, France formally ordered the second batch of 34 NH90 TTHs for just under €1 billion. In January 2016, France placed an order for six additional NH90 TTHs.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The French Army took delivery of its first NH90 TTH in December 2011. On 21 December 2012, the French Navy received its first NH90 NFH in final operating capability. In December 2010, the NH90 formally achieved in-service status with the French Navy, being initially used to perform search and rescue and maritime counter-terrorism operations. The first seven aircraft were delivered to an interim "Step A" configuration; following aircraft were delivered to the "Step B" standard and are forecast to be delivered at a rate of two per year until 2020. For the ASW role in French service the helicopter is equipped with dipping sonar, acoustic buoys and MU90 torpedoes. The French Navy formally cleared the type to perform anti-surface warfare duties in 2012, clearance to perform anti-submarine warfare missions followed in 2013, allowing the NH90 to take over the missions previously performed by the Navy's Westland Lynx and Aérospatiale Super Frelon helicopter fleets. On 3 November 2014, the French Army Light Aviation deployed two of its NH90s to Mali; both helicopters had been fitted with three additional fuel tanks to fly the four-day ferry flight to the region.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In October 2020, France signed a contract to develop the TFRA Standard 2 configuration for French Army special forces using the final batch of 10 NH90 TTH already ordered. A design study for the new configuration began 18 months earlier in cooperation with Belgium and Australia. The first phase of the design will feature a Safran EuroFLIR 410 electro-optical system (EOS), external fuel tanks and a digital 3D map. The cabin will feature a central rappelling and extraction device, gun mounts for M3M .50 caliber machine guns and fold-able step. The rear ramp will feature a quick removable leaf doors system, fast-rope beam, fold-able step and various improvements made to enable the door to be used inflight. The developmental Safran Eurofl'Eye distributed aperture system (DAS) and digital Thales TopOwl helmet-mounted display may be integrated in a second phase with electrical and mechanical provisions made for their installation. The first five are to be delivered in 2025 and the last five in 2026 to the 4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The German Army chose to procure the troop transport variant. The first three serial production NH90s were delivered to the German Army in December 2006. By January 2013, a total of 80 aircraft were on order for the army. In 2009, the German Navy was also considering the procurement of up to 30 NFH for its new Maritime Helicopter. In March 2013, the German government chose to reorganise the NH90 procurement; the Army's fleet of 122 NH90s was reduced to 82; 18 NH90s previously ordered for the German Army were converted to the NFH maritime variant for the navy instead. On 26 June 2013, the German defense committee declared that the order for a combined 202 NH90 and Tiger helicopters was to be reduced to 157. In December 2014, Germany announced that, in addition to the 80 troop transports firmly on order, it was considering an option for an additional 22 NH90s; it was investigating the possibility of setting up a multinational helicopter unit to operate these 22 helicopters as a shared NATO resource with other countries using and contributing to the force.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In July 2012, the German NH90 fleet reached a combined total of 5,000 flight hours. In April 2013, up to 4 German Army NH90 TTH were deployed in Afghanistan in a Forward Air Medical Evacuation role in support of coalition forces operating in the country. On 23 June 2013, German Army NH90s were declared operationally capable of medical evacuation operations. Following an engine failure and controlled crash in Uzbekistan in July 2014, the German Army temporarily grounded the type for investigation. In December 2015, it was announced that production of the German Navy's variant of the NH90 NFH, named "Sea Lion", had formally commenced; a refit of the German Army's TTH variant was also underway at the same time. Since late 2014, Germany has promoted the establishment of a multinational NH90 force for combat MEDEVAC missions; the taskforce would comprise up to 20 NH90s.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The Navy's version, known as the NH90 Sea Lion, is based on the NH90 NFH. The Sea Lion first flew on 8 December 2016. Its 18 NH90 Sea Lions are equipped with improved navigation and communications equipment permitting operation within civil airspace, along with additional sensors for military missions. The identification friend or foe (IFF) system was also updated. Designed to replace Germany's Westland Sea Kings in the SAR and Vertrep roles, the Sea Lion was to enter service with the German Navy by the second quarter of 2019. On 26 November 2019, the German Navy stated that the NH90 is not going operational at this time due to deficiencies in technical documentation not allowing safe operations.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: On 20 November 2020 the Bundestag approved the purchase of 31 more helicopters. These will be used by the navy to replace their 22 Sea Lynx Mk88A helicopters. The deal is valued at €2.7 billion including spares, accessories and training material.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In August 2003, Greece ordered 20 NH90s with an option for 14 more. In early 2013, the German newspaper "Bild" alleged that Airbus officials paid €41 million in bribes to Greek officials to secure the order; Airbus stated that the claim was "groundless". On December 12 it was stated that deliveries would start again after an embargo by the Hellenic Government, with 4 helicopters being of the SPECOPS specification.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: By early 2017, 12 NH90s had been delivered and are in service, with eight aircraft to be delivered from the manufacturer.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In June 2000, Italy signed an initial contract for a batch of 60 TTH (Tactical Transport Helicopter) for the Italian Army, along with a further 46 NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) and 10 TTH for the Italian Navy. On 30 December 2007, the first NH90 TTH was formally handed over to the Italian Army. On 23 June 2011, the navy received its first NH90, which was delivered to an interim MOC (Meaningful Operational Capability) standard, capable of performing training, search and rescue, and utility operations; anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities were not initially available until aircraft are retrofitted to a FOC (Final Operational Capability) standard. In May 2013, the Italian Army took delivery of the first NH90 TTH of a FOC standard; in November 2013, the Italian Navy took delivery of its first FOC-standard NH90 NFH.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2012, Italy deployed a total of 5 Army NH90 TTHs to support troops participating in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. The NH90s, which were air-transported individually by allied Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft, replaced six Agusta/Bell 205s in performing tactical transport and medevac operations; Army Aviation Commander Gen. Enzo Stefanini stated that "…in Afghan conditions, the NH90 is delivering performance 15 percent above what was envisaged".


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The Netherlands, one of the original supporters of the programme, ordered a total of 20 units, comprising 12 NFH and 8 TNFH for the Royal Netherlands Navy, In 2010, the Royal Netherlands Navy became the first customer to receive the NFH variant.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2009, concerns surfaced that design changes had made the helicopter too heavy to operate from Dutch frigates for which they were ordered. In June 2014, the Dutch government decided not to accept the last batch of 7 NH90s due to some 100 shortcomings found in relation to the design, manufacturing and material choice of the aircraft, in particular corrosion in the presence of salt water. In December 2014, NH90 deliveries restarted after the Dutch government came to an agreement with the manufacturer, under which modifications and necessary repairs against corrosion would be made at the manufacturer's cost; 75 of the 100 shortcomings were also reported as having been solved.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In April 2013, the navy deployed the type onboard to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden. In November 2014, the Royal Netherlands Navy deployed a single NH90NFH to Somalia to support Operation Atalanta in Somalia.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: On 19 July 2020, a Royal Netherlands Navy NH90 helicopter crashed off the coast of Aruba, killing two crew members and injuring two passengers. The Dutch Ministry of Defence launched an investigation, temporarily grounding all of the country's NH90s.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In July 2006, the New Zealand government signed a NZ$771 million (~€500M) contract to purchase eight NH90s (plus one extra for spares) to replace the Royal New Zealand Air Force's (RNZAF) fleet of 13 UH-1 Iroquois helicopters. For ease of manufacture and logistics, New Zealand deliberately chose its NH90 configuration to be nearly identical to the larger Australian fleet. On 7 December 2011, deliveries to New Zealand formally began with the first two NH90s being airlifted by a leased Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft to RNZAF Base Ohakea. In February 2013, the first phase of the RNZAF's operational evaluation of the NH90 was completed, clearing the type to begin operational duties.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: Between September 2013 and July 2014, the first four delivered NH90s were retrofitted to a final operational configuration; later aircraft were already delivered to this standard. On 31 October 2014, the RNZAF announced that they had received into service the last of the eight NH90 TTHs. Following command structure changes in December 2014, the NH90 fleet was tasked with additional responsibilities, including casualty evacuation during search and rescue operations and providing transport services to the New Zealand Police and other government personnel. In April 2015, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee questioned the inability of the NH90 fleet to contribute to relief efforts in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam, revealing that the fleet may be refitted with an automated blade and tail folding system to better enable ship borne deployments in the future.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In April 2016, NH90s flew 160 hours during relief missions in Fiji following the devastation of Cyclone Winston.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: After the Kaikoura earthquakes in November 2016, the NH90s were critical in delivering aid and supplies to the area. They also assisted with civilian evacuations of foreign nationals.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In April 2017, the RNZAF's NH90 fleet was grounded following an in-flight single engine failure which forced an emergency landing.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In November 2021, New Zealand NH90, NZ3302, became the first of its type to reach 2,000 flying hours. According to the RNZAF, despite being delivered years after other customers, high serviceability rates allow New Zealand NH90s to fly more hours per aircraft than other operators.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2001, Norway ordered 14 NH90 helicopters for use by the Royal Norwegian Navy and Norwegian Coast Guard, to be delivered in 2005-2008. In December 2011, the first helicopter was delivered. In July 2012, the Norwegian Deputy Defence Minister Roger Ingebrigtsen announced that "once our current Westland Lynx helicopters reach their end of life in 2014, we are going to have replacement helicopters on our naval vessels. If the NH90 hasn’t been delivered, we will purchase another helicopter... considering that the aircraft were to be delivered by 2005, and that delivery is yet to start by 2012, our confidence in the producer isn't exactly on the rise" In August 2012 it was reported that the Royal Norwegian Air Force would be recommending that the Ministry of Defence contact Sikorsky to verify whether versions of the H-60 Seahawk, specifically the MH-60R, would be a viable alternative to the NH-90 in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role. Defence Minister Espen Barth Eide stated "We still believe the marine version of the NH90 to be the optimal platform, and we hope to purchase it, but there are limits to our patience." In January 2016, six of the 14 aircraft had been delivered.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: A February 2018 report by the Norwegian Armed Forces found that its fleet of NH90 helicopters offer insufficient flight hours for the intended roles. The report advised that all helicopters are converted to the anti-submarine warfare role as required by the Royal Norwegian Navy, as opposed to current plans which see 6 of the 14 helicopters in that role, and the rest configured for Norwegian Coast Guard duties. The Norwegian Ministry of Defence stated that it would consider the report's recommendations before making a decision on the matter.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In September 2018, the Norwegian Armed Forces reversed course and released an updated study that affirms that under "certain conditions" the requirements for both the navy and coast guard can be met with the current order of 14 helicopters. The conditions specifically state good spare parts availability, sufficient aircraft for maintenance scheduling and a sufficient overhaul capacity. Norwegian Minister of Defence Frank Bakke-Jensen added that although the inauguration is challenging, the ministry holds on to the timeline in which phasing in will be completed by 2022. In February 2022 the Norwegian Minister of Defense again threatened to terminate the NH90 contract due to great concerns regarding new delays and NHI not meeting contractual obligations, considering sourcing alternative helicopters.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In June 2022 the Norwegian Minister of Defense announced the Norwegian Defence Material Agency was given the task to terminate the NH90 contract due to NHI not meeting contractual obligations, and announced that the NH90 is taken out of operation with immediate effect.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In July 2004, the Sultanate of Oman issued an order for a total of 20 NH90 TTHs for the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO). To cope with the extreme flight conditions of the Middle East, RAFO NH90s are equipped with enhanced power plants; the type is to replace the Agusta/Bell 205A and Agusta/Bell 212 used for tactical transport and search and rescue operations. On 23 June 2010, the first two NH90 TTHs were delivered to the RAFO at Musana Air Base. By July 2012, ten NH90s had been delivered to the RAFO; in Omani service, the NH90 has established an endurance record, flying 700 nautical miles without refueling during a 5-hour 21 minute-long mission.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2014, Qatar announced that it would invest in NH90 helicopters for $2.76 billion. An contract is expected to be signed in March 2018, during the Dimdex defence exhibition. The signing happened on 14 March 2018, which finalised the purchase of 28 NH90 Helicopters in a deal that is worth 3 billion euros. The agreement includes 16 NH90s for tactical transport and 12 NH90s for naval purposes. The deal is supposed to help Qatar with modernizing her military helicopter fleet. On 20 August 2018, Leonardo announced the contract with Qatar was made effective for a total sum of US$3.7 billion, covering the agreed upon number of helicopters, with an option with six more of each type.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: On December 23, 2020, the first flights for Qatari-bound NH90s were being conducted for general evaluation.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: On 20 May 2005 the Council of Ministers authorised the acquisition of 45 NH90 TTHs; in December 2006, it was announced that a procurement contract for the Spanish Armed Forces had been signed. The Spanish NH90 variant features domestically assembled General Electric CT7 8F5 engines, customised communications suite, and Indra-developed electronic warning systems. The original budget for the procurement was for €1,260 million; by 2010, this had grown to €2,463M. In June 2012, it was announced that Spain was negotiating to cut its purchase to 37 aircraft. On 18 December 2014, Spain took delivery of the first NH90 TTH, which had been assembled at Airbus Helicopters Albacete facility; by this point, the order had been reduced to a total of 22 NH90s of the TTH variant.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In January 2018, NHIndustries president Vincent Dubrule stated he was confident Spain would place a follow-on order by the end of 2018 for an additional 23 TTH NH90, bringing the total back up to 45. In September 2018, the Spanish government agreed to the purchase of the additional 23 TTH NH90 helicopters, including seven for naval purposes.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In 2001, Sweden signed a contract for 18 NH90 TTH, made up of 13 TTT/SAR and 5 SAR/ASW to be operated by the Swedish Air Force. Because of renewed foreign submarine activity at the Swedish coast in 2014 it was decided in 2015 that four TTT/SAR would be modified to SAR/ASW in order to increase the anti-submarine warfare capability, so there will be 9 TTT/SAR and 9 SAR/ASW. The NH90 is known as the Helikopter 14 (HKP14) in Swedish service, the FOC version of TTT/SAR are designated HKP14E and the FOC version of SAR/ASW are designated HKP14F.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: By November 2015, Sweden had ordered 18 NH90s with ten helicopters delivered. Sweden did not expect its NH90s to be operational until 2020 and ordered 15 UH-60M Black Hawks in 2011, deploying four of its new Black Hawks to Afghanistan in March 2013. In December 2015, the first Swedish NH90 in a full ASW configuration was delivered. Sweden announced on 1 November 2022 that its NH90s will be replaced with S-70 (H-60) variants and an undetermined aircraft.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: Portugal was the fifth state to join the programme with an order for ten transport NH90 in June 2001; it was intended for these to equip the Portuguese Army Light Aviation Unit. However, in July 2012, fiscal consequences of the Great Recession led Portugal to cancel the order, despite having already spent €87m on the project, in order to save another €420m in acquisition and running costs to 2020.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In July 2006, the Saudi Government agreed to purchase 64 NH90s. Then in October 2007 the government changed its plans, and agreed to buy 150 Russian-made Mi-35 and Mi-17 helicopters instead.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: In July 2015, the Egyptian Navy entered negotiations for the purchase of 5 NH90 NFH helicopters; these were intended to serve on board its newly acquired FREMM frigate "Tahya Misr" and 4 Gowind corvettes that were also on order. The NH90 helicopters would all be of French standard. In October 2015, it was reported that negotiations for a "large quantity" of NH90s had reached an advanced stage. In April 2019 it was announced that Egypt was ordering the AW149 and not the NH90.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The primary role of the NFH version is autonomous anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface unit warfare (ASuW), mainly from naval ships. These aircraft are equipped for day and night, adverse weather and severe ship motion operations. Additional roles include anti-air warfare support, vertical replenishment (VERTREP), search and rescue (SAR) and troop transport. France are splitting their purchase between the "NFH version combat" costing €43.3m in FY2013 and the "NFH version soutien" (support) at €36.4m in FY2013.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The primary role of the TTH version is the transport of 20 troops or more than 2,500 kg of cargo, heliborne operations and search & rescue. It can quickly be adapted to MEDEVAC/CASEVAC missions by fitting up to 12 stretchers or cargo delivery capability. Additional roles include special operations, electronic warfare, airborne command post, parachuting, VIP transport and flight training.


title: NHIndustries NH90

text: The MTT is a blend between the TTH and NFH, combining the land-based configuration of the TTH with specialized maritime features of the NFH, including folding rotorblades, a tail-boom, and a strengthened undercarriage. The variant was first announced in February 2019 and has reportedly piqued interest from the Spanish and Italian armed forces who may order this variant as part of existing orders.


title: Ancient Olympic Games

text: The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; , neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The originating Olympic Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule, 2nd century BC. Their last recorded celebration was in AD 393, under the emperor Theodosius I, but archeological evidence indicates that some games were still held after this date. The games likely came to an end under Theodosius II, possibly in connection with a fire that burned down the temple of the Olympian Zeus during his reign.


title: Ancient Olympic Games

text: During the celebration of the games, the "ekecheiria" (an Olympic truce) was announced so that athletes and religious pilgrims could travel from their cities to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a political tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rivals. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, priests would offer sacrifices to the gods for victory. The games were also used to help spread Hellenistic culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Olympics also featured religious celebrations. The statue of Zeus at Olympia was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Sculptors and poets would congregate each Olympiad to display their works of art to would-be patrons.


title: Ancient Olympic Games

text: The ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate, although there were victorious women chariot owners. As long as they met the entrance criteria, athletes from any Greek city-state and kingdom were allowed to participate. The games were always held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations as is the practice with the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations.


title: Ancient Olympic Games

text: To the Ancient Greeks, it was important to root the Olympic Games in mythology. During the time of the ancient games their origins were attributed to the gods, and competing legends persisted as to who actually was responsible for the genesis of the games.


title: Ancient Olympic Games

text: These origin traditions have become nearly impossible to untangle, yet a chronology and patterns have arisen that help people understand the story behind the games. Greek historian, Pausanias provides a story about the dactyl Heracles (not to be confused with the son of Zeus and the Roman god Hercules) and four of his brothers, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius and Idas, who raced at Olympia to entertain the newborn Zeus. He crowned the victor with an olive wreath (which thus became a peace symbol), which also explains the four-year interval, bringing the games around every fifth year (counting inclusively). The other Olympian gods (so named because they lived permanently on Mount Olympus) would also engage in wrestling, jumping and running contests.