The first of 29 H135 helicopters for the UKMFTS programme will shortly begin ground trials at Airbus

[Zarvan]

The first of 29 H135 helicopters for the UKMFTS programme will shortly begin ground trials at Airbus Helicopters' Donauworth facility in southern Germany. Source: IHS\Gareth Jennings
Airbus Helicopters will shortly begin ground tests on the first of 29 H135 platforms for the UK Military Flight Training System (UKMFTS) programme in southern Germany, the company told reporters on 21 June.

Helicopter serial number 2001 is to be powered up at the Donauworth production facility in the coming days ahead of ground trials, with a first flight slated for mid-July.

Airbus Helicopters will perform UKMFTS-specific modifications in the UK later in the year, ahead of delivery. As well as the 29 H135s (eight of which are currently in varying stages of production at Donauworth), Airbus Helicopters is to provide three H145Ms (to be used mainly for maritime training) under the GBP500 million (USD734 million) contract announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 20 May.

As with the other fixed-wing components of the UKMFTS programme, UKMFTS Rotary-Wing (RW) covers helicopter training across all three of the UK's armed services and will involve the manufacture and delivery of aircraft, the provision of instructors, the building of infrastructure, and the training of initial Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy (RN), and British Army Air Corps (AAC) crews and maintenance personnel.

An MoD infographic showing helicopter pilot training under the UKMFTS with Ascent. (Crown Copyright)

Valued at GBP1.1 billion, the wider UKMFTS RW will see Ascent Flight Training provide helicopter training services to the MoD from 2018 through to 2033, and will see the twin-engined H135 and H145 helicopters replace the incumbent single-engined Airbus Helicopters H125 (formerly AS/EC350) Squirrel and twin-engined Bell 412EP.

Under the new UKMFTS RW contract, aircrew across the three services will continue to conduct their basic and advanced rotary training at RAF Shawbury and AAC Middle Wallop, with those selected for training in mountain and maritime helicopter operations receiving instruction at RAF Valley. Under the new contract, 59 Ascent and 102 military instructors will be used to turn out 121 pilots and 99 rear-crews from across all three services annually.

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