Airbus Helicopters

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Airbus Helicopters
Subsidiary
Industry Aerospace
Founded 1992
Headquarters Marseille Provence Airport
Marignane, France
Key people
 Guillaume Faury, CEO
Products Helicopters
Revenue €6.3 billion (2013)
Number of employees
 23,000
Parent Airbus Group
Subsidiaries Subsidiaries
Website airbushelicopters.com
AS532 Super Puma

Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus Group. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence Airport in Marignane, France, near Marseille.[1] The main facilities of Airbus Helicopters are at its headquarters in Marignane, France and in Donauwörth, Germany, with additional production plants in Brazil (Itajubá,MG), Australia, Spain and the United States. The company was renamed Airbus Helicopters on 2 January 2014.[2]

History

AS350 BA Ecureuil

Airbus Helicopters, then named Eurocopter Group, was formed in 1992 through the merger of the helicopter divisions of Aérospatiale and Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA). The company's heritage traces back to Blériot and Lioré et Olivier in France and to Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf in Germany.[3]

Airbus Helicopters and its predecessor companies have established a wide range of helicopter 'firsts,' including the first production turboshaft-powered helicopter (the Aérospatiale Alouette II of 1955); the introduction of the Fenestron shrouded tail rotor (on the Gazelle of 1968); the first helicopter certified for full flight in icing conditions (the AS332 Super Puma, in 1984); the first production helicopter with a Fly-by-wire control system (the NHIndustries NH90, first flown in full FBW mode in 2003); the first helicopter to use a Fly-by-light primary control system (an EC135 testbed, first flown in 2003); and the first ever landing of a helicopter on Mt. Everest (achieved by an AS350 B3 in 2005).[4][5][6]

As a consequence of the merger of Airbus Helicopters' former parents in 2000, the firm is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus Group. The creation of what was then called EADS in 2000 also incorporated CASA of Spain, which itself had a history of helicopter-related activities dating back to Talleres Loring, including local assembly of the Bo105.

Today, Airbus Helicopters has four main plants in Europe (Marignane and La Courneuve in France, and Donauwörth and Kassel in Germany), plus 32 subsidiaries and participants around the world, including those in Brisbane, Australia, Albacete, Spain and Grand Prairie, USA.[7][8] File:Eurocopter company logo.svg As of 2014, more than 12,000 Airbus Helicopters were in service with over 3,000 customers in around 150 countries.[9]

Eurocopter sold 422 helicopters in 2013 and delivered 497 helicopters that year.[10] In 2014, AH built a concrete cylinder for testing helicopters before first flight.[11]

    10 July 2000 1 December 2006 1 April 2009 17 September 2010 17 January 2014 27 May 2015
  European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company NV Airbus Group NV Airbus Group SE   
   Airbus     
Airbus Military Airbus Defence and Space   
  EADS Defence and Security Cassidian
    EADS Astrium
   Eurocopter Group Airbus Helicopters   
          
           

Products

When the division changed its name from Eurocopter Group to Airbus Helicopters in 2014 the trade names of the products were changed (applied by 1 January 2016) to reflect this. Suffixes, as well as the differentiation for single or twin engines, were no longer to be used. Military versions were to be symbolized by the letter M. The only exceptions to this new branding were the AS350 B2, AS635 and 565, the EC145e, the AS332 and 532, the Tiger and the NH90, which will keep their current names.:[12]

Previous trade name New trade name Description
Civil/military Civil Military
EC120 B H120 –
AS350 B2 AS350 B2 –
AS350 B3e H125 –
AS550 C3e – H125M
EC130 T2 H130 –
EC135 T3/P3 H135 –
EC635 T2e/P2e – H135M
EC145e EC145 –
EC145 T2 H145 –
EC645 T2 – H145M
AS365 N3+ AS365 N3+ –
AS565 MBe – AS565 MBe
EC155 B1 H155 –
X4 H160 –
EC175 H175 –
AS332 C1e AS332 C1e –
AS332 L1e AS332 L1e –
AS532 ALe – AS532 ALe
EC225e H225 –
EC725 – H225M
NH90 – NH90
Tigre (EC665) – Tiger
NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH)
EC135 T2+
EC145
EC120 Colibri
Tiger ARH
  • AS332 Super Puma – medium-sized twin-engined transport/utility helicopter
  • AS350 Ecureuil/AStar – light single-engine utility helicopter
  • AS355 Ecureuil 2/TwinStar – light twin-engine utility helicopter
  • AS365 Dauphin – medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter
  • AS532 Cougar – twin-engined, medium-weight, multipurpose helicopter
  • AS550 Fennec & AS555 Fennec 2 – single- and twin-engined, light-weight, multipurpose helicopters
  • AS565 Panther – military medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter
  • EC120 Colibri (with Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation) – 5-seat, single-engine, single main rotor, light helicopter
  • EC130 – light single-engine 'wide-body' helicopter
  • EC135 – light twin-engine civil helicopter
  • EC145 – twin-engine intermediate utility helicopter
  • EC155 – long-range medium-lift passenger transport helicopter
  • H160 (X4) – Twin medium helicopter in development to replace the AS365 and EC155 models
  • EC175 – medium-sized twin-engined transport/utility helicopter
  • EC225 Super Puma – long-range passenger transport helicopter
  • EC635 – military light multi-purpose helicopter
  • EC645 – military intermediate multi-purpose helicopter
  • Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota – light utility helicopter in operation with the U.S. Army and Navy
  • EC665 Tiger – dedicated military attack helicopter
  • EC725 Cougar – long-range tactical transport helicopter
  • HH/MH-65C/D Dolphin – medium-sized search & rescue and drug interdiction helicopter
  • NHIndustries NH90 – medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military, fly-by-wire helicopter (via 62.5% share in NHI joint venture)
  • KAI KUH-1 Surion – medium-sized twin-engined transport/utility helicopter developed in cooperation with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)
  • X³ rotorcraft – hybrid helicopter with two forward propellers, which achieved a 255-knot speed milestone in level flight in June 2011.[13]
  • X6 – Two year concept study into the possible launch of an 11.5t helicopter to replace the H225.[citation needed]

Some of the helicopters were renamed in 2015, resembling Airbus airplane naming.[14]

Note: On Airbus Helicopters aircraft designed in France, the main rotor turns clockwise when viewed from above, in common with rotorcraft deriving from Russia. Airbus Helicopters products developed in Germany have a main rotor which turns counter-clockwise when viewed from above, in common with American rotorcraft.

References

  1. ↑ "Legal Notice and Disclaimer." Airbus Helicopters. Retrieved on 24 January 2014. "[...]whose registered Office is located Aéroport International Marseille-Provence – 13725 Marignane Cedex – France"
  2. ↑ Airbus Helicopters
  3. ↑ Airbus Helicopters history
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ The Helicopter land on Everest with video
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Airbus Helicopters – Spain
  8. ↑ Airbus Helicopters – Interactive Network Map
  9. ↑ Airbus Helicopters – Who We are
  10. ↑ Airbus Helicopters aims high with new branding and a strategic transformation
  11. ↑ New dynamic testing method at Airbus brings helicopters to market quickly
  12. ↑ http://www.airbushelicopters.com/w1/jrotor/100/sources/projet/pdfs/page7.pdf
  13. ↑ Eurocopter's X3 hybrid helicopter makes aviation history in achieving a speed milestone of 255 knots during level flight
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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