The Sécurité Civile, an agency of the French Ministry of Interior that performs rescue and air medical transport service, will expand its helicopter fleet by adding two five-bladed Airbus H145s.
This contract is a follow-up to the initial deal signed in 2020 for an initial batch of H145s, which were delivered in December 2021. Currently, the Sécurité Civile operates a fleet of 33 EC145 and two H145 helicopters.
“On average, one person is rescued every 33 minutes by one of our “Dragon” helicopters and these two new aircraft will reinforce the operational capacity of the men and women of the French Sécurité Civile throughout France,” said Prefect Alain Thirion, Director General of the Sécurité Civile.
The new version of the Airbus H145 twin-engine five-bladed helicopter was certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in June 2020. Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145 is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC).
“The new five-bladed H145 will be an asset to the critical missions that the Sécurité Civile performs as we have seen during the various waves of the pandemic and the floodings in France,” said Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters CEO.