France acquires 42 new helicopters for civil security and the national gendarmerie

France is acquiring 42 new Airbus H145 helicopters for civil security and the national gendarmerie, the Interior Ministry announced this Tuesday evening. This market falls within the framework of the orientation and programming law of the Ministry of the Interior (Lopmi).

Firstly, the civil security fleet will be renewed with the acquisition of 36 new devices between 2024 and 2028.due to the very heavy demand on its helicopters“For the national gendarmerie, the market provides for the acquisition of six helicopters between 2025 and 2028.”intended first for the Gendarmerie air sections of Amiens and Chamonix, then for Cayenne“.

“Water bomber” devices

The press release from the Ministry of the Interior specifies that “theThe H145 device is intended to replace the obsolete fleet of the EC145 model which currently equips the two fleets of the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas, particularly used by units overseas and in high mountains“. This new device “will be equipped with a level of operational equipment which will enable it to carry out in the best conditions all of the public security missions for which it will be used“.

Note that to face the challenges of global warming, the new H145 helicopters “will be able to have a capacity of water bomber helicopters of nearly 1,000 liters which will allow Civil Security to have an immediate attack capacity on emerging fires throughout the territory, while awaiting the intervention of the planes put in place. implemented by the General Directorate of Civil Security and Crisis Management (DGSCGC)“.