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WA Police buy Australia’s first H145

written by Adam Thorn | July 24, 2020

Airbus five blade H145 ©Airbus 2
Airbus five blade H145 (Airbus)

The WA Police have become the first Australian customer to buy Airbus’ new five-bladed H145 helicopter.

The H145– previously known as the EC145 – features a Fenestron shrouded tail rotor and twin Safran Helicopter Arrius 2E engines.

It can also seat up to nine passengers, has a maximum range of 352 nautical miles, a maximum cruise speed of 129 knots and a maximum endurance of three hours and 36 minutes, according to figures from the Airbus website.

Last year, Australian Aviation reported that Airbus delivered two H145 helicopters for the New Zealand market that were specially configured for emergency medical services.

The model was first certified by European regulators in April 2014 and the US Federal Aviation Administration in October 2014. Military certification followed in May 2015, with German special forces the launch customer for the military variant designated as the H145M.

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Airbus Australia Pacific managing director Andrew Mathewson called the H145 a “reference law enforcement helicopter”.

“We are proud to be able to configure the aircraft to include the mobile policing command post to enhance the capability of the WA Police Force, both in the air and on the ground,” said Mathewson.

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Comments (3)

  • Jane Seymore

    says:

    Not true about being the first. The first two H145s were delivered to PHI for a BHP maritime contract in Mackay, Queensland in 2019.

    • Slarti Bardfast

      says:

      Think you’ll find that the five bladed version mentioned above has only recently been certified. I expect that was what was being alluded too in the above article.

  • Steve

    says:

    Fake news – these ships are already in operation in OZ with other entities.
    Still beautiful helos though, and not cheap.

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