TSAMTO, February 18. The Indonesian state-owned company PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) announced the transfer of the eighth of the nine ordered Bell-412EPi medium multipurpose helicopters to the Indonesian Army Aviation Command.
As reported by TSAMTO, a contract worth $ 183 million, providing for the supply of a total of 9 Bell-412EPi helicopters, PTDI and the Indonesian Defense Ministry signed on December 28, 2018. The transfer of the first helicopter under the agreement took place on December 29, 2020. The seventh car was handed over to Indonesia on December 6, 2021.
All Bell-412EPi helicopters will be part of the 11th Assault Aviation Squadron of the Army Aviation Center, located at the Ahmad Yani Air Base (Semarang, Central Java Province).
In accordance with the cooperation agreement between PTDI and Bell, the ordered helicopters are manufactured in the USA by Bell, and then transferred to PTDI for adaptation before delivery in accordance with the requirements of the Indonesian CB. The first two gliders arrived from Bell Textron Canada in early 2019. Each helicopter is equipped with weapons, including the M134D machine gun of the American company Dillon Aero for 7.62 x 51 mm caliber ammunition manufactured by PT Pindad.
Bell-412EPi helicopters are equipped with an integrated "glass" crew cabin, a four-axis autopilot, two more powerful PT6T-9 Twin Pac engines compared to PT6T-3D, which were equipped with the previous Bell-412EP series. The new powerplant provides 13% more take-off power. The carrying capacity of the Bell-412EPi is 5534 kg. The helicopter is designed to carry 15 people with equipment (including 1 pilot). With a fuel reserve of 1251 liters at a cruising speed of 235 km/h, it can fly up to 687 km in 4 hours with a payload of 4309 kg.
