TSAMTO, December 29. The Spanish Defense Ministry has signed a contract with Airbus Helicopters for the supply of 36 H-135 helicopters (18 of them are intended for the Spanish Navy and Air Force, the rest for the Civil Guard and the National Police).
The helicopters will be delivered with a Helionix avionics kit and Pratt & Whitney engines.
The contract was signed on December 22 by the Deputy Director General for Procurement of the General Directorate for Armaments and Materiel (DGAM) of the Spanish Ministry of Defense and the General Director of Airbus Helicopters Spain.
The contract was concluded after the government approved on June 29, 2021 the allocation of funds for the purchase of H-135 and H-160 helicopters from Airbus Helicopters Spain, as well as the signing on July 29, 2021 of an agreement between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense on interdepartmental cooperation in the purchase of light helicopters. It is assumed that a single contract concluded by DGAM will save money due to the scale of procurement and reduce operating and maintenance costs.
The program also provides for the creation of a training center for H-135 pilots at the Helicopter School (EMH) under the Ministry of Defense next year The Air Force, located at the Armilla base (Granada province).
As reported by Infodefensa.com The decision to purchase the H-135 is also related to the proposal of Airbus Helicopters to create a logistics center at the enterprise in Albacete (in southeastern Spain) to store helicopter components manufactured by the company for foreign customers.
The delivery of the H-135 will allow replacing the outdated H-500 helicopters of the Navy and S-76 of the country's Air Force at the first stage. The Navy currently has about half a dozen H-500s in service since the 1970s. In turn, the Air Force has 8 units of S-76, which have been in operation since 1991. In both cases, helicopters are used mainly for pilot training.
Replacement of these helicopters with new H-135s will begin in 2023 and will be completed in 2026. H-135 is certified and suitable for use on board ships.
The program also includes the second phase, the contract for the implementation of which has not yet been signed. It provides for the replacement of HC-135 helicopters and EC-120 helicopters of the Spanish Air Force, which are in service with Spain. The ultimate goal is to unify the fleet of light helicopters in the Spanish Armed Forces.
Currently, in the Spanish Armed Forces, 16 H-135 helicopters are operated by the Ground Forces. In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 31 helicopters of the H-135 family are used by both the National Police and the Civil Guard. The new helicopters will allow the police and Civil Guard to replace the outdated Bo-105.
Currently, 300 operators in 64 countries operate about 1,350 H-135 helicopters. The combined flight time of these helicopters reached 6 million hours.
