Six Aircraft Destined for 22nd Combat Wing

The Ecuadorian Air Force is to receive six new-build Airbus H145 helicopters, which it ordered in 2019 and are destined for the 22nd Combat Wing at Guayaquil Air Base.

The first aircraft is currently undergoing flight testing in Germany, still with a German registration but already sporting the FAE name on the tail boom. The aircraft are to be used in search and rescue, aeromedical evacuation, humanitarian aid, surveillance, reconnaissance and transport missions, replacing the HAL DHRUVs that were retired in 2015, after more than half the fleet was lost in accidents in the short time since the type’s delivery.

Florencia Lucero Heguy and Santiago Rivas reporting from Buenos Aires for MON