TSAMTO, December 8. During the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the UAE, in addition to the contract for the sale of Rafale F4 fighters to the Air Force of this country, an agreement was signed for the supply of H-225M "Caracal" multipurpose helicopters manufactured by Airbus Helicopters.
The parties have not yet officially commented on the details of this sale, however, according to media reports, 12 helicopters worth from 750 to 800 million euros will be delivered to the UAE Armed Forces. The machines will be assembled at the Airbus Helicopters facility in Marignane. It is assumed that the helicopters will be equipped with an Israeli-made electronic optical station.
According to media reports, it was expected that the contract would be announced at the Dubai Air Show (November 14-18), but the parties decided to coincide it with the official visit of Emmanuel Macron to the UAE.
In an interview recently given to the newspaper La Tribune, the CEO of Airbus Helicopters, Bruno Even, noted that due to the low level of orders over the past three years, the company faced a problem of capacity utilization in the period from 2022 to 2024. For this reason, Airbus Helicopters is seeking to receive new orders, primarily in France ("Tiger Mk.3 and Light Joint Helicopter), Spain, Germany (update 40 "Super Cougar") and the UK, where the manufacturer offers about 40 H-175M helicopters.
In April 2021, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly announced the purchase of 8 additional H-225M helicopters as a support measure for Airbus Helicopters. The European manufacturer also plans to sell "Caracal" in Morocco (up to 8 units), which would allow to "survive" a difficult period.
The H-225M helicopter, with a maximum take-off weight of 11 tons, is equipped with two Macila 2A1 engines with a take-off power of 1567 kW, a five-bladed main rotor, a four-axis autopilot that allows maneuvering in hover mode, and the latest integrated display and control system. The helicopter can carry up to 31 people (crew and troops). In the search and rescue version, the H-225 can, in addition to two crew members and four members of the rescue group, take up to 19 people on board. The maximum flight range with standard tanks is 920 km, the flight duration is 4 hours and 30 minutes. The maximum speed of the car is 324 km/h. Helicopters can be used from ground airfields and shipboard. 7.62 mm MAG58, 12.7 mm M3M machine guns can be used as weapons.
