Sun, Aug 28, 2011
Aircraft Will Undertake Firefighting And Disaster Relief
Missions
The Hiroshima Prefecture of Japan has signed a contract for an
AW139 medium twin helicopter, according to a joint news release
from AgustaWestland and Mitsui Bussan Aerospace. This aircraft will
be used by the Hiroshima Prefecture Disaster Relief Department to
perform fire fighting and disaster relief missions. The helicopter
is due to enter operational service in 2012. This AW139 sale
follows an order for the same helicopter type by the Saitama
Prefecture in November and by the Fire and Disaster Management
Agency in April this year and continues the success of the AW139 in
the Japanese market for fire fighting and disaster relief
applications.
“This acquisition brings the number of AW139 helicopters
ordered by customers in Japan to thirty, a remarkable number for a
helicopter that has only been in service for a short period of time
and confirming the AW139’s position as the most advanced
mission capable helicopter available today in the medium twin
class,” said Andrew Symonds, AgustaWestland’s Head of
Region for NE Asia.
The Hiroshima Prefecture’s AW139 will feature a comprehensive
mission-dedicated fit including a “belly tank” fire
fighting system, Bambi Bucket, weather radar, search light, cargo
hook, rescue hoist, dual rappelling hooks, loudspeaker system and
main rotor blade high visibility painting. The advanced avionics
systems selected include a nose mounted FLIR camera and downlink
transmission (air-to-ground) capability, which will be installed in
Japan. In addition to the state of the art Satellite Based
Augmentation System (SBAS) capable GPS and Traffic Collision
Avoidance System (TCAS), the AW139 offers superior safety levels in
the fire fighting role due to its class leading performance,
outstanding one engine inoperative capabilities, system redundancy
and superior levels of crashworthiness.
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