Airbus Helicopters has delivered the Spanish Air and Space Force’s first H135 light utility rotorcraft in Albacete.
The vehicle is the eighth H135 unit handed over by the company as part of a contract for 36 helicopters signed for the Spanish Armed Forces and State Security Forces in 2021.
The first two H135s under the package were shipped to the Spanish Guardia Civil and National Police the same year.
Seven H135s on the contract are also expected to be received by the Spanish Navy.
‘Ideal’ Helicopter
The recently delivered H135 will be deployed under the service’s 78th Wing at the Military School of Helicopters in Armilla, Granda, where it will be used for advanced aircrew training.
It will be employed as a helicopter of reference for other pilot preparations in the Spanish Air Force, Navy, Army, Guardia Civil, and other countries requesting training at the Granada site.
“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,” Airbus Helicopters Spain Managing Director Fernando Lombo stated.
“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.”
The Airbus H135
The H135 is equipped with upgraded technologies present from its predecessor Eurocopter EC135 and later Eurocopter iterations.
It is integrated with Airbus Helicopters’ Helionix avionics suite, which provides users with enhanced safety, situational awareness, and mission flexibility.
Currently, over 300 operators in 65 countries operate 1,400 of the light twin-engine helicopters.
Airbus said that the H135 global fleet has accumulated 6.5 million flight hours to date.