The French Navy is not waiting for the Airbus H160 to be inducted as the replacement for its Alouette III fleet and will go ahead and replace them using leased civilian helicopters.
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By Official U.S. Navy Page from United States of America MC3 Preston Paglinawan/U.S. Navy (USS San Jacinto conducts flight operations.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
La Tribune says the cost of operating the Alouette III has tripled since 2010 and the average age of each rotorcraft is more than 40 years. The availability rate of the fleet is around 33.9%.