The UK’s Essex Police Air Support is in the process of purchasing a brand new EC135, which will be delivered in June. Inspector Paul Marrion told EBAN: “This will replace the Twin Squirrel we currently operate, which is now 20 years old. We wanted to get something more modern, more servicable and cheaper to run and finally signed an agreement back in August 2002. Hopefully we’ll now find a buyer for the Squirrel before this new helicopter arrives.”

Marrion explained the process behind justifying the cost to the government: “Securing funding for a new aircraft is not a foregone conclusion. But the Home Office has given us a grant allocation towards it – in this case £1.2 million for a £3 million aircraft. I put a business case together that showed how over

a ten-year period the maintenance costs on a new aircraft would justify its purchase. The aircraft will be doing suspect searches, missing person searches, vehicle pursuits, photographic and video work.”

The EC135 is currently being worked on at McAlpine’s in Oxford. “The helicopter will be fitted with new equipment, because the equipment in the Squirrel is now at least six or seven years old. The

135 was delivered to the UK from Germany in January and it will now take 20 weeks to fit the roll equipment and bring it up to police specifications,” added Marrion.