(CercleFinance.com) – Airbus announced on Thursday that the French Navy had today received the first of six H160 helicopters which had been ordered in 2020.
The Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) had placed an order two years ago for four devices, which it had matched the following year with an order for two additional devices.
These devices, which must be assembled in the Airbus Helicopters factory in Marignane, will be configured for rescue at sea, even if some of them will initially be used for alert missions on land.
These air-sea combat helicopters – designed for missions aboard frigates – will be minimally militarized and maintained in operational condition by the Babcock engineering company.
In particular, they must be equipped with winches and modular cabins and certified for theft with the night vision binoculars necessary in particular for winching at night.
The H160, a medium-tonnage twin-engine aircraft, is powered by Safran’s Arrano engines.