The first production EH101 helicopters which Denmark and Portugal ordered at the end of December 2001, have made their maiden flights from AgustaWestland’s plants at Yeovil, UK and Vergiate, Italy respectively.

Branch Chief of the Helicopter Branch, Air Materiel Command of the Royal Danish Air Force, Joergen Petersen said: “We chose this helicopter for many reasons, but mainly it was the most suitable model

to meet our needs. We had to consider operational performance, price, delivery time, programme risk

and similar issues. Our choice was based on many factors.

“Most of the operations that it carries out will be SAR applications, replacing our S61,” he continued.

“We needed to replace the old helicopter because it’s reaching the end of its working life! The EH101

helicopters will also be used for tactical troop transport.”

Petersen said that the helicopter could go anywhere in the world. “We have had F-16 fighters in Afghanistan

and we currently have troops out in Iraq, so we are well equipped to operate in these kinds of places.”

He continued: “This helicopter will be able to do many things that the older helicopter is simply not able to

cope with. It’s a much more modern aircraft, so it has more capabilities than the old one. For example, it can fly in icy conditions, which means that we will have a higher operational availability throughout the year.

“The helicopter is still at AgustaWestland at the moment and the first delivery to us will take place in late August of this year,” he explained. “Then we expect to have four more by the end of this year.

“In total we will have 14 helicopters,” he said. “The intention at the moment is to have eight of the

aircraft operating in a SAR role and to keep the rest for tactical troop transport. The helicopter is a

multirole helicopter and all 14 are equal and can either be configured for SAR or for tactical troop transport.

They can meet a variety of needs.

“We have a long-standing relationship with AgustaWestland and we are looking forward to receiving the new helicopters,” he concluded.