Airbus delivered the first H135 to the Spanish Air and Space Force in Albacete. This is the eighth helicopter delivered under the 36-unit contract signed at the end of 2021 to supply the Armed Forces and State Security Forces. This delivery is six months ahead of schedule, which 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. Once the planned fleet of 11 helicopters are delivered to the Air Force, the H135 will become the helicopter of reference for pilot training for the Spanish Air Force, Army, Navy, the Guardia Civil and other countries requesting such training at the Granada base.
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. The H135 is the most popular helicopter in the Spanish fleet, 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, for which it is the benchmark in Europe. 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. 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” said Fernando Lombo, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters Spain.
Airbus Helicopters H135 (formerly known as Eurocopter EC135) is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters . It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with a digital automatic flight control system (AFCS). First flying on 15 February 1994, it entered service in 1996 and 1,400 have been delivered up to September 2020 to 300 operators in 60 countries, accumulating over 5 million flight hours. It is mainly used for helicopter emergency medical services, corporate transport, law enforcement, offshore wind support, and military flight training. Half of them are in Europe and a quarter in North America. Some 1,400 H135 helicopters are operated by more than 300 operators in 65 countries. The fleet has accumulated more than 6.5 million flight hours.
