Airbus Helicopters H135

Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) [ 1996 ]

Over 1,000 of the Airbus Helicopters H135 light utility systems have been manufactured since service introduction in 1996.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/21/2022 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Image from official Airbus Helicopters marketing material.

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Seeking to succeed its successful, yet aging, line of Bo 105 light utility, twin-engine helicopters, the Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) "EC135" was born from the Bo 108 prototype and has become a market success in its own right. The Bo 108, originally headed by Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) of West Germany, was drawn up as a technology demonstrator becoming something of an evolved form of the earlier Bo 105. A first-flight was recorded on February 15th, 1994 and service introduction followed in 1996 with over 1,000 being built since 1995. The militarized variant has become the "EC635" product detailed elsewhere on this site.

The Bo 108 began as a test program through and through. Relying on proven facets of the Bo 105, this gave engineers the freedom to incorporate smaller revisions to the overall design and led to the incorporation of a hingeless main rotor assembly, broadened use of composite construction, a more streamlined transmission arrangement, digital avionics fit in the cockpit and a bearingless conventional tail rotor unit. Power came from 2 x Allison 250-C20R-3 turboshaft engines seated over the passenger cabin. The front of the aircraft was heavily glazed as in the Bo 108 and a fixed landing skid acted as the undercarriage.

By early 1991, the Bo 108 program proved its worth and led to MBB pushing the design to a market product stage. It was also decided to rely on a different engine fit - be it the French Turbomeca "Arrius" series or a turboshaft offered by American-based Pratt & Whitney (PW206). A second prototype went airborne on June 5th, 1991 with a pair of Arrius engines in place.

The emergence of the Eurocopter brand label saw MBB and Aerospatiale both merged under it and, perhaps most important to the new helicopter program, this provided engineers unfettered access to the Aerospatiale-designed "Fenestron" shrouded tail rotor. In this arrangement, a multi-bladed unit sat within a fixed housing buried within the vertical tail fin promising reduced noise levels and optimal efficiency at the cost of complexity. With that, the Bo 108 was revised with the tail unit technology and given the new Eurocopter designation of "EC135". First flight of this product came on February 15th, 1994 and certification followed in June of 1996. Since both of the aforementioned engine fits proved successful in testing, both were offered to market customers in separate variants.

Like other helicopters of this weight class, the EC135 went on to find service careers in civilian, governmental and military circles around the world. Military operators included Australia, Brazil, Gabon, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Morocco, and Spain. Police and government security forces also took to the type in considerable numbers as showcased from its usage in the skies over Argentina and Australia to Turkey and the United States.

Several variants of the EC135 base design have been realized led by the initial EC135 P1 with its Pratt & Whitney engines of 621 horsepower each. The EC135 T1 fits the Arrius engine of 583 horsepower each and these have been followed by EC135 P2 and EC135 T2 with uprated engines from PW and Turbomeca respectively. Modern production versions carry the distinguishing "+" in their designation (i.e. "EC135 P2+") and the more powerful models are EC135 P3 and EC135 T3. A military training model is available as the TH-135 (based on the EC135 T2+) and the formal military model is the evolved EC635 / H135M, this offering originally developed against a Portuguese Army requirement.

The Eurocopter name is now a subsidiary of Airbus Group which uses Airbus Helicopters as its helicopter branch brand label. As such, the EC135 is now refered to as the H135.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

May 2016 - it was announced that Airbus Helicopters would provide twenty-nine H135 series helicopters to the UK's Defense Helicopter Flying School through the Ascent consortium. This deal also adds three H145 series helicopters.

June 2017 - Work is underway to allow for local Chinese production of the H135 product. These are intended to serve police and medical services in the country.

February 2018 - Airbus has delivered it 1,300th example of the H135 helicopter.

February 2020 - The Brazilian Navy has taken delivery of its first H135 helicopter (under the service designation of "UH-17"). Three will ultimately make up the stock and see operations in the Antarctic cold weather environment and be equipped with Search & Rescue (SAR) gear for the role.

February 2022 - The UK has selected the H135 series to succeed its aging line of French Gazelle light helicopters.

July 2022 - London's Air Ambulance has selected the H135 series over the competing Leonardo AW109 Trekker type to succeed an aging line of MD902 helicopters. The announcement was made at Farnborough 2022.

Specifications

Service Year

1996

Origin

France

Status

ACTIVE
In Active Service.

Crew

1

Production

1,000
UNITS

Airbus Helicopters (Formerly Eurocopter / Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, MBB - Germany) - France / Helibras - Brazil

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Argentina; Austria; Australia; Brazil; Canada; Croatia; Czech Republic; Gabon; Germany; Ireland; Japan; Lithuania; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom; Turkey; Untied Kingdom; United States

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Special-Mission: MEDical EVACuation (MEDEVAC)
Extraction of wounded combat or civilian elements by way of specialized onboard equipment and available internal volume or external carrying capability.

✓ Special-Mission: Search & Rescue (SAR)
Ability to locate and extract personnel from areas of potential harm or peril (i.e. downed airmen in the sea).

✓ Transport
General transport functionality to move supplies/cargo or personnel (including wounded and VIP) over range.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

Length

33.5 ft
(10.20 m)

Width/Span

33.5 ft
(10.20 m)

Height

11.5 ft
(3.51 m)

Empty Wgt

3,208 lb
(1,455 kg)

MTOW

6,415 lb
(2,910 kg)

Wgt Diff

+3,208 lb
(+1,455 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Airbus Helicopters H135 production variant)

Installed: 2 x Safran Helicopter Engines (Turbomeca) "Arrius" 2B2+ turboshaft engines developing 633 horsepower each OR 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206B3 turboshaft engines developing 621 horsepower each and driving four-bladed main rotor and shrouded multi-bladed tail rotor.

Max Speed

180 mph
(290 kph | 157 kts)

Ceiling

20,013 ft
(6,100 m | 4 mi)

Range

395 mi
(635 km | 1,176 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

1,500 ft/min
(457 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Airbus Helicopters H135 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

Supported Types

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

H135 - Revised designation under Airbus Helicopters brand label.

EC135 - Original Series Designation.

EC135 P1 - 2 x Pratt * Whitney Canada PW206B engines of 621 horsepower each.

EC135 T1 - 2 x Turbomeca Arrius 2B1 / 2B1A / 2B1A1 engines of 583 horsepower each.

EC135 P2 - PW206B2 engines of 621 horsepower each.

EC135 T2 - Arrius 2B2 engines of 606 horsepower each.

EC135 P2+ (EC135 P2i) - PW206B2 engines of 667 horsepower each.

EC135 T2+ (EC135 T2i) - Arrius 2B2 engines of 634 horsepower each.

EC135 P2+ (EC135 P2e) - Increased MTOW.

EC135 T2+ (EC135 T2e) - Increased MTOW.

EC135 P3 - PW206B3 engines of 708 horsepower each

EC135 T3 - Arrius 2B2Plus engines of 660 horsepower each.

EC635 (H135M) - Militarized variant.

TH-135 - Military trainer variant.

UH-17 - Brazilian Navy designation.

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Images Gallery

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Image from official Airbus Helicopters marketing material.

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Image from official Airbus Helicopters marketing material.

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