Last of 10 SUPER PUMAs Joins Army Air Brigade

Airbus Helicopters delivered the last H215M SUPER PUMA to the Chilean Army’s Air Brigade in early December. The helicopter will serve alongside the nine previously delivered aircraft, eight of which were ordered in 2008, with additional aircraft ordered in 2013 and 2014.

The army’s H215M have completed more than 10,000 flight hours missions ranging from the provision of aid to remote areas and medical evacuation to firefighting and disaster relief. The Air Brigade played a crucial relief role during the floods that hit the Atacama region in 2015, carrying out 56 missions to provide support for flood victims.

“This helicopter complements the army’s fleet, which now includes latest-generation aircraft with the ability to perform multiple missions across the entire country,” said Brigadier-General Núñez Kocher, commander of the Air Brigade. “Our confidence in this helicopter is based on the positive operational results it has achieved since coming into service in 2009. The H215M has proved its versatility and reliability across the army’s numerous and demanding operations.”

The H215—and its military version, the H215M—forms part of the SUPER PUMA family. It boasts multi-mission capabilities and delivers optimum performance in extreme operating conditions. Combining modern avionics with a proven, robust platform the H215M offers long-range capabilities, power, speed and a large useful payload; making it the ideal aircraft to perform SAR missions. The H215 is also reliable and highly economical, with an availability rate of more than 95 percent.

The army’s H215M have completed more than 10,000 flight hours in a large number of missions that range from the provision of aid to remote areas and medical evacuations to firefighting and disaster relief. The Chilean Army’s Air Brigade played a crucial relief role during the floods that hit the Atacama region in 2015, carrying out 56 missions to provide support for flood victims.

In addition to the ten H215Ms, the Chilean Army operates a number of other Airbus Helicopters rotorcraft, such as the single-engine AS350B3, the twin-engine AS355NP and the PUMA SA330L.