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Airbus delivers first H135 to the Spanish Air and Space Force

May 10, 2023  By Helicopters Staff


The light twin-engine H135 will form a fleet of 11 helicopters to be delivered to Spain’s Air Force. (Photo: Pablo Rada, Airbus)

Airbus delivered the first H135 to the Spanish Air and Space Force in Albacete. This is the eighth helicopter delivered under a 36-unit contract signed at the end of 2021 to supply the country’s Armed Forces and State Security Forces.

This delivery is six months ahead of schedule, explains Airbus, which will facilitate crew training and the entry into service of the H135 for the 78th Wing at the Military School of Helicopters in Armilla, Granada.

Airbus explains that once the planned fleet of 11 helicopters are delivered to the Air Force, the H135 will become the helicopter of reference for pilot training for the Spanish Air Force, Army, Navy, the Guardia Civil and other countries requesting such training at the Granada base.

“[The H135] 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,” said Fernando Lombo, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters Spain. “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.”

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The H135 is already in service with the Spanish Army’s training unit (ACAVIET) and the Emergency Battalion (BHELEME II). In the coming months, the Navy will also receive the first of the seven H135 units outlined in the contract.

The light twin-engine H135 is equipped with Helicopters’ Helionix avionics suite. Some 1,400 H135 helicopters are operated by more than 300 operators in 65 countries. The fleet has accumulated more than 6.5 million flight hours.

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