The French Sécurité Civile and Gendarmerie Nationale has signed a deal for Airbus Helicopters to support its entire fleet of H145s, in light of a new contract with France's Aeronautical Maintenance Directorate (DMAé). This latest agreement covers 46 H145 helicopters, comprising 40 for the Sécurité Civile and six for the Gendarmerie Nationale, for up to 10 years and will be executed by Airbus Helicopters in a co-contracting partnership with Babcock.

This new contract for the H145, combined with a previous support agreement for the fleet of EC145 helicopters signed in May 2024, also in a co-contracting partnership with Babcock, completes Airbus Helicopters' support responsibility for all H145 family helicopters operated by these two key French public safety agencies. This unified support structure ensures maximum fleet availability and operational efficiency for their critical missions.

“Ensuring the operational availability of our H145 fleet is critical for the public safety missions carried out by the Sécurité Civile and Gendarmerie Nationale,” says Captain Jean-Baptiste Fortin from the DMAé. “This comprehensive agreement provides the long-term visibility and industrial support necessary to guarantee their performance.”

“Airbus Helicopters is proud to strengthen its partnership with the French government and to be working alongside Babcock on this essential programme,” adds Romain Trapp, executive vice president of customer support and services at Airbus Helicopters. “This contract demonstrates the trust the DMAé places in Airbus to support its critical missions. By managing the entire H145 fleet, Airbus Helicopters can provide a unified and more efficient support service.”

Pierre Basquin, CEO of Babcock France, adds: “The Sécurité civile and Gendarmerie Nationale play a vital role in protecting our citizens. Babcock is proud to support their mission by ensuring the operational availability of its new H145 fleet. This contract builds on our long-standing military and civil aviation support in France.”

Airbus Helicopters and Babcock will ensure that the Sécurité Civile and Gendarmerie Nationale H145 family helicopters are available for their critical missions serving the French population. The Securité Civile and Gendarmerie Nationale H145s are used for SAR, EMS, fire fighting and law enforcement missions. The comprehensive contract covers a large range of support activities from training, technical support, supply of spare parts, logistics solutions (transport of spares and stock management), technical data management, software support and MRO activities.

Airbus is also committed to the renewal of the Sécurité Civile and Gendarmerie's fleet of helicopters. The Sécurité Civile currently operates 13 new H145s and the Gendarmerie recently received their first new H145 following the orders placed by the French Ministry of Interior in 2021 and 2024.