Airbus delivered the first two of five total H145M helicopters to the Royal Thai Navy following a successful technical acceptance, the company said April 29.
The lightweight multi-role H145M is the military version of the civil H145 that entered service in mid-2014 and separately has achieved 15,000 flying hours in customer operations, Airbus said. It has a maximum take-off weight of 3.7 tons and can be used in missions including naval, utility, reconnaissance, search and rescue, medical evacuation, and armed scout.
Airbus highlighted the H145M is equipped with a Helionic digital avionics suite using a 4-axis autopilot, two Turbomeca Arriel 2E engines, and a low acoustic footprint.
The Royal Thai Navy model of the H145M is equipped with Multi-Purpose Pylons including aerodynamic fairings, cargo hooks, hoists, HF system for search and rescue (SAR) operations, weather radar, internal long range fuel tank systems, and provisions for a future special operations upgrade.
These two helicopters are set to stay in Germany for pilot training at Airbus Helicopters’ Training Academy while the three other units are completed and trained. All five H145M rotorcraft are scheduled to be delivered to Thailand in September 2016.
The third unit is set to be delivered within days after the first two, Airbus said.
“After the H145M made its market entry with the German Air Force at the end of 2015, we are very proud that the Royal Thai Navy has become another operator of the new H145M”, Wolfgang Schoder, Airbus Helicopters Germany CEO, said in a ceremony marking the delivery at the company’s Donauwörth site.