Pratt & Whitney Canada today congratulated the Swiss Air Force for achieving 200,000 flight hours on its fleet of 45 PW206B2 engines, powering 19 Airbus H135 helicopters. Pratt & Whitney is an RTX business. The PW200 engine family was among the first helicopter engines to have an integrated digital data capability. This powerful feature has been constantly expanded and enhanced with every new iteration of the engine. More than 6,000 PW200 engines have been delivered with over 4,500 still in service. The PW200 engine fleet has exceeded 16.5 million engine flying hours. Pratt & Whitney powers many vital aircraft in the Swiss Air Force’s fleet. For example, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop engine powers the Pilatus PC-6, de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, Pilatus PC-7 and Pilatus PC-21 aircraft used for military training and aerobatic display. Later this decade, the Swiss Air Force is scheduled to begin receiving a fleet of F-35 fighter jets powered by the F135 engine.
“The missions the Swiss Air Force fleet undertake are always important and many help protect and save lives. In addition, the fleet plays a key part for the training of our pilots. Therefore, they need to be always at the ready and have to serve a variety of purposes over many years. The Airbus H135 helicopter with PW206B2 engines meets that imperative,” said Nadine Schroeder, communications manager, Swiss Air Force.
“The PW200 family, of which includes the PW206B2 engines, have proven to be exceptionally mission adaptable, economical to operate and dependable. We have worked closely with the Swiss Air Force over the years, helping to ensure the engines in the customer’s H135 fleet remain highly reliable, support exceptional dispatch availability metrics, and have a long and productive life cycle,” said Nicolas Chabée, vice president, marketing and sales, Helicopter Engines, Pratt & Whitney Canada.
The Airbus Helicopters H135, is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters, formerly known as Eurocopter. It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with a digital automatic flight control system (AFCS). First flying in February 1994, it entered service in 1996. 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 air medical transport (medevac), corporate transport, law enforcement, offshore wind support, and military flight training. Half of them are in Europe and a quarter in North America.
Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation. Pratt & Whitney’s aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation and military aviation. Its headquarters are in East Hartford, Connecticut. RTX is the world’s largest aerospace and defense company. With more than 185,000 global employees, we push the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon – we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2023 sales of $68.9 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
