Airbus has delivered the first H135 to the Spanish
Air and Space Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio).
The
delivery, which is six months ahead of schedule, will facilitate
crew training and the entry into service of the H135 for the 78th
Wing at the Military School of Helicopters in Armilla (Granada)
where it will perform advanced training tasks for military pilots.
The helicopter is the eighth
delivered under the 36-unit contract signed at the end of 2021 to
supply the Armed Forces and State Security Forces.
Once the planned fleet of 11 helicopters are
delivered, the H135 will become the helicopter of reference for pilot
training for the Spanish Air Force, Army, Navy, Guardia Civil
and other countries requesting such training at the Granada base.
The light twin-engine Airbus H135 is equipped with
the most advanced technologies available, including Airbus
Helicopters’ Helionix avionics suite.
“We are very proud to know that all young pilots
from the Ministry of Defence corps will now be trained on the
H135, the world’s benchmark for military training missions. It is
a versatile, reliable and efficient helicopter, ideal for the
transition to more complex aircraft, with more than 400,000 flight
hours of military training for 12 military customers” said
Fernando Lombo,
Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters Spain. “We are confident
that the H135 will represent a leap in the quality of teaching and
will reinforce the Military Helicopter School as the benchmark it
is, throughout the world.”
The H135 is
already in service with the Spanish Army’s training unit (ACAVIET)
and the Emergency Battalion (BHELEME II). In the coming months,
the Navy will also receive the first of the seven H135 units
foreseen in the contract.
Thanks to its operational versatility, flying
missions as diverse and demanding as military training, police
surveillance and intervention, mountain rescue missions and
emergency medical transport, the H135 is the most popular
helicopter in the Spanish fleet.
Some 1,400 H135 helicopters are operated by
more than 300 operators in 65 countries.
