• Defence Helicopter

  Airbus tests HFI concept for Germany

  8th April 2016

  Airbus Helicopters has conducted the first testing phase of a research and technology study for a Hostile Fire Indication (HFI) concept for the German armed …

• Defence Helicopter

  DSA 2016: MD Helicopters forges Malaysian alliances

  21st April 2016

  MD Helicopters capitalised on its sales success to Malaysia by forging agreements to support the army’s six future MD 530G light scout helicopters. Although the …

• Defence Helicopter

  Quad A 2016: US Army rolls out Apache upgrades

  28th April 2016

  The latest batch of remanufactured AH-64E Apache ‘Guardian’ attack helicopters for the US Army are beginning to roll off the production line with a comprehensive …

• Defence Helicopter

  New weapons for Thai AS550 C3e

  8th April 2016

  Shephard recently witnessed new 12.7mm FN Herstal HMP400 gun pods and FZ220 70mm rocket launchers fitted to Airbus Helicopters AS550 C3e (since being renamed H125M) …

• Defence Helicopter

  DSA 2016: AgustaWestland and Weststar team for AW159

  21st April 2016

  Finmeccanica Helicopter Division is positioning its AW159 Wildcat helicopter for a Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) requirement for naval helicopters capable of anti-submarine warfare (ASW). It …

• Defence Helicopter

  Quad A 2016: Bell eyes early service for V-280

  28th April 2016

  In the lead up to this year's Quad A in Atlanta, Georgia, Bell Helicopter reaffirmed its belief that its next generation V-280 tilt-rotor could enter …

• Defence Helicopter

  Quad A 2016: Sikorsky defiant on SB>1

  29th April 2016

  Sikorsky and Boeing’s offering for the US Army’s Joint Multi Role (JMR) Technology Demonstrator is on track to perform its first flight next year, with …

• Defence Helicopter

  FIDAE 2016: Hard landing for Airbus in Latin America

  1st April 2016

  The tough economic conditions in Latin American has impacted all the main rotary-wing OEMs, not least Airbus Helicopters and its Brazilian subsidiary Helibras, which saw …

• Naval Warfare

  Eyes in the sky for Danish navy

  25th April 2016

  The workhorses of the Royal Danish Navy’s presence in the cold waters of the arctic - the two Knud Rasmussen class arctic patrol vessels (APV) - could …

• Defence Helicopter

  DefExpo 2016: Foreign OEMS want to join Indian rotary club

  31st March 2016

  The Indian Armed Forces have tremendous helicopter needs, and foreign OEMs present at DefExpo 2016 were keen to join the action under the Buy and …

• Training

  H-ITC milestone

  25th April 2016

  The DCI Helicopter International Training Centre (H-ITC) has announced that it has now flown over 1,000 flight hours with its EC120 Colibri aircraft.H-ITC is a …

• Defence Helicopter

  FDR image capability progresses

  18th April 2016

  Curtiss-Wright is actively evaluating the image recording capabilities for its Fortress Next Generation flight data recorder, Shephard has learned. The crash recorders, which are ED-112A compliant, …

• Digital Battlespace

  Thales, Airbus receive French defence contract

  7th April 2016

  Thales and Airbus Defence and Space have received the GeoMaps contract to supply digital geographic data for the French Ministry of Defence’s mapping database, Thales …

• Defence Helicopter

  DSA 2016: Anka-S achieves milestones

  19th April 2016

  The Anka-S UAV from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has clocked up a number of achievements as it heads towards first delivery to the Turkish Air …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army orders 117 AH-64Es

  15th April 2016

  Boeing has received a contract worth around $1.5 billion from the US Army to remanufacture 117 AH-64D Apache attack helicopters into the new AH-64E version, …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  H225M - France

  Programme Background In April 2021, the French government signed a deal for the purchase of eight H225M Airbus helicopters to replace its ageing fleet of SA330 ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145M [Ireland]

  Programme Background On 30 December 2024 Ireland announced a contract with Airbus for four new H145M helicopters to replace the Air Corps existing fleet of ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  TH-73 Advanced Helicopter Training System - AHTS (TH-57 Replacement)

  Contenders for the competition included the Leonardo single engine TH-119 – a military variant of the AW119Kx – and Bell’s newly upgraded single engine 407GXi. ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145 Helicopter [Honduras]

  Programme Background  The Honduran Government has purchased a total of four H145 Helicopters manufactured by Airbus to develop the armed forces preparedness against natural disasters ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  Maritime Operations Helicopters

  The three maritime operations helicopters will be used for logistics and personnel transport, alongside transportation of PASKAL naval special forces in operations in the area. ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  SW4 Puszczyk Replacement [Poland]

  Programme Background  In 2002, Poland order 47 SW4 training helicopters from Italian manufacturer Leonardo; as of Spring 2025, the Ministry of Defence is looking to ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  Bell 412EPI-Indonesia

  Programme Background PTDI is assembling Bell helicopters in its factory in Bandung.  The first Bell 412EPI was delivered to Indonesian Army on 29 December 2020 ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  Kondor Naval Helicopters (Poland)

  Programme Background In 2018, the Polish MoD announced its requirement to purchase up to eight naval helicopters to replace in-service SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters. Polish ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  Spain HT-29 Caiman (NH90 TTH) - Army First Batch

  HT-29 Caiman GSPAs (NH90 TTH) will be assembled at Airbus Helicopters’ facility in Albacete and will replace AS332 Super Puma fleet in service. Even though ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  AW101 [Poland]

  According to the media reports, Airbus couldn't provide a competitive offer for the programme due to the offset requirements.  The deliveries were to be completed ...

• Military helicopters - attack

  AH-X [Japan]

  There is no mention of the AH-X in the 2019-2023 Medium Term Defence Plan, so it is possible that the requirement has quietly been postponed. ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H135 (UK)

  Programme BackgroundAirbus Helicopters UK announced on 2 February 2022 that it has won an order to provide five additional H135 twin-engine helicopters for the MoD. The ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  Ka-226T-India-Air Force

  An official contract announcement is expected during the Aero India 2021 exhibition in Bangalore, although negotiations have dragged on for more than five years and ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145M (Contracted) [Germany]

  Programme Background Previous Usage The German Armed Forces ordered 15 H145M helicopters, with the initial two delivered in December 2015, for the Kommando Spezialkräfte. These ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  Naval Utility Helicopters (India)

  Programme Background The program will witness the formation of a joint venture between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and another local or foreign manufacturer. In June ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military helicopters - light/training

  H145

  The light, twin-engine EC145 began as an initiative to increase the cabin size of the BK 117 C1 aircraft, involving Kawasaki of Japan and Airbus ...

• Military helicopters - light/training, Military helicopters - multirole

  H135M

  The H135M (formerly known as the EC635 and also designated as H135) is a light utility variant of the EC135 twin-engine, multipurpose 3t helicopter. In ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145M

  The H145M (formerly known as the EC645 T2) is the military version of the H145 medium-sized (3.7t) helicopter (covered in a separate entry). It is ...

• Model 301 Fire Attack

  The Model 301 is a belly tank/refill hose system for Airbus Helicopters AS365-series helicopters.

• Model 316 Fire Attack

  The Model 316 is a belly tank/refill hose system for Airbus Helicopters H225 and AS332 L-series helicopters.

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H175M

  The Airbus H175M is the military variant of the H175, a seven-tonne class aircraft powered by twin PT6C 67E engines. The civilian variants produced by Airbus ...

• Air: mission management systems

  Helionix

  The Helionix digital avionics suite was developed from the need for a more powerful avionics system with greater functions and computing capacity, alongside a user-friendly interface. ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H215M

  The H215M (formerly the AS532 ALe) is the most recent addition to the Cougar family.  It is a medium-weight (9t-class), twin-engine helicopter, combining the AS532's ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  H225M

  The medium-weight, 11t-class H225M (formerly known as the EC725) is the latest military Super Puma/Cougar family member.  Technical features include a modular design of mechanical ...

• AC67 Airbus Helicopters H135 interior

  Bucher has developed the AC67 medical interior for the Airbus Helicopters H135 in cooperation with ADAC Luftrettung.The lightweight, modular design features a floor with integrated ...

• Helicopter engines

  Arriel 2+/2D

  Unveiled in 2011, the Arriel 2+ is an upgrade of the Arriel 2 and is intended for single- and twin-engine helicopters. It incorporates a new ...

• Helicopter engines

  LTS101

  The LTS101 was first certified in 1975. Since then, over 2,100 engines have been delivered to customers worldwide, logging over 11 million service hours. The ...

• EO/IR systems

  Viviane

  Viviane is an out-of-production gyro-stabilised night and adverse weather observation system with missile sight.  Manufactured by Safran, it was fitted to French Army Gazelles. It contained a ...

• Air: mission management systems

  APM 2000

  The current generation of autopilots is the APM 2000 family, fitted on major worldwide platforms. The APM 2000 is based on an integrated digital computer. ...

• Air: Defensive Systems - Radar Warning Receivers

  EWR-99

  Dassault is not traditionally associated with electronic warfare subsystems, instead being equated with the manufacture of combat aircraft and business jets. Nonetheless, the company did, ...