Kuwait to Get 24 Caracal Helicopters from Airbus Helicopters

Just after the announcement of the Caracal’s contract of Airbus Helicopters in Poland, Kuwait showed its interest in this helicopter. According to the Elysée, Kuwait wishes to sign a contract to get 24 Caracal H225M and training, estimated between $ 800 million and $ 1 billion.

This official announcement is the result of an interview call between the French president François Hollande, and Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait.

In the framework of a defense partnership between France and Kuwait, the contract will be signed very soon by the defense ministers of the two countries, Jean-Yves le Drian and Ahmed Al Khaled Al Sabah. This contract should accentuate the partnership between France and Kuwait in Defense and strengthen the presence of France in the Middle East.

Moreover, Caracal will be present in Paris Air show where Airbus Group will showcase its innovative range of commercial and military aircraft, space systems and emerging technologies at Le Bourget.

To highlight Airbus’ leading wide body product range and superior cabin comfort in all classes, more A350 XWBs and A380s will be on display than at any other air show, with four of the highly efficient passenger aircraft in total. An A350 XWB of launch customer Qatar Airways will be on the static display along with a Qatar A380. Throughout the week, two Airbus test aircraft, an A350 XWB equipped with cabin and an A380, will take part in the flying display. The 2015 Paris Air Show comes just over a decade since the A380 made its first flight, with more than 80 million passengers now having flown on it and one of the aircraft type taking off or landing every three minutes. Airbus’ end of show press conference will take place on the 18th of June at the Airbus Group Pavilion.

The wide portfolio of Airbus Defence and Space will be prominently displayed, including military and mission aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, satellites and launchers. The A400M new generation airlifter and mock-ups of the Tanan and Harfang unmanned aerial vehicles will be shown on the static display. In the exhibition area, the new European launcher Ariane 6 will be displayed as will telecommunications satellites that demonstrate Airbus Defence and Space’s position as the world number one in electric propulsion. The AstroBus-S Very High Resolution Earth Observation satellite system will also be presented, with the PeruSAT-1 mission.

The product renewal strategy of Airbus Helicopters will be shown, including mock-ups of the highly innovative H160 and newly certified H145M on the static display while an H175 model will be present in the Group Pavilion. The ever popular H135, certified in October 2014, and the combat-proven H225M, which was recently preselected by Poland for the test phase of the multi-role helicopter tender, will also be displayed. Other combat proven aircraft such as the NH90 TTH Caiman from the French Army Aviation service will be displayed at the NHIndustries booth and will perform flight demonstrations every day. The Tiger and a NH90 NFH will be present on the French General Directorate for Armament’s (DGA) booth. From an innovation point of view, a mock-up of a High Compression Engine (HCE) will be presented at the Clean Sky Booth while a Blue Edge blade will be on display alongside a scale model of the H160, the first aircraft that will be equipped with these sound reducing and performance boosting blades.

The Airbus Group Innovations global research and technology network will showcase a selection of its technological capabilities and upstream concepts. Highlighting this presence will be the all-electric E-Fan technology demonstrator, which will participate in flying displays throughout the week. This Airbus Group Innovations-led e-aircraft programme will also be featured in the Pavilion’s exhibition area, with a full scale model of the E-Fan 2.0 production version, for which the final assembly line location at Pau Pyrénées Airport in southwest France was recently announced. Also presented will be the “Connected Cockpit,” introducing a totally new e-aircraft flight deck concept that reduces pilot workload, simplifies operations and allows flights to be performed with maximized use of on-board electrical energy.

 

Pierre Kfoury

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