Defence in talks to purchase six new helicopters

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Defence in talks to purchase six new helicopters

 
THE Department of Defence has opened negotiations with two manufacturers for the purchase of six new helicopters for the Air Corps at a cost of €60m.

Minister Willie O'Dea yesterday gave the go-ahead for the project and ordered that the negotiations be completed urgently. He expects the contracts to be in place by the middle of next month.

Four utility AB 139 helicopters will be acquired from the Bell Augusta Aerospace company in Italy and will be used by the Air Corps in a general purpose military operational and training role.

Another two light utility 135 helicopters are being bought from Eurocopter, based in France-Germany, and these will be used mainly for pilot training.

The third competitor for the lucrative contracts was Sikorsky which offered its Black Hawk model.

Tasks intended for the utility helicopters include operations with special forces such as the Army Rangers, security and aid to the Garda, military exercises, infantry interoperability training and limited troop transport.

They will also be used to perform air ambulance, inland search and rescue, aid to the public and VIC transport tasks.

The light utility helicopters will be mainly involved in training.


Tom Brady
Security Editor

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