Spanish Ministry of Defence and Interior Buy 36 Airbus H135 Helicopters

The Spanish Ministries of Defence and Interior placed an order Thursday for 36 Airbus H135 helicopters.

The Ministry of Defence will receive 18 helicopters to be operated by the Air Force and the Navy while the Ministry of Interior will also take delivery of 18 helicopters to be operated by the National Police and the Guardia Civil. The deliveries will start next year, Airbus said in a statement.

The Spanish Army already operates a fleet of 16 H135 helicopters. With this acquisition, these will be the Spanish Air Force’s first H135s and the Spanish Navy’s first Airbus Helicopters product. As was the case for the H135s acquired some time ago by the army, the new aircraft for the air force and navy will replace older helicopter models currently used for advanced pilot training. The standardisation of training fleets across the three armed forces will create synergies and lead to the implementation of new and more efficient training and support activities.

The Ministry of Interior currently has a fleet of 31 helicopters from the H135 family in operation with the National Police, the Guardia Civil, and Tráfico. The new helicopters will enable the Policía and Guardia Civil to replace the BO105 helicopters in a wide range of missions including law enforcement, surveillance, and rescue activities.

Airbus’ light, twin-engine H135 is equipped with Helionix avionics suite. There are about 1,350 H135 helicopters operated by 300 operators in 64 countries. The fleet has accumulated 6 million flight hours.