More Capable Helicopters
Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, sees the need to fulfill multi-role missions as a motivator for LE agencies around the world to buy larger, more powerful helicopters such as the company’s S-76, S-92 and Black Hawk aircraft.
This trend makes sense. “While the majority of law enforcement helicopters are single- engine aircraft, there is a growing realization that substantially larger, twin-engine assets can help expand the mission,” says Jeanette Eaton, Sikorsky’s regional vice president for the U.S. and Canada. “This trend toward larger helicopters doesn’t necessarily replace the lighter ones, but rather supplements with a new capability. Increasingly we now see growing demand for helicopters that can perform search and rescue, high-rise rescue, tactical team insertion, external load missions, firefighting, and executive transport. Additionally, there is demand for aircraft with the latest technology to enable automated search patterns and instrument flight rules.”
Airbus Helicopters’ Senior Operational Marketing Manager and
Airborne Law
Enforcement Mission Specialist Stephane Rousseau sees the trend toward more capable helicopters being driven by versatility, connectivity, and digitalization. “Today’s police units are looking for a real multi-purpose helicopter capable of transporting a SWAT team to the scene of a terrorist crisis, carrying out a medical evacuation, flying three hours to secure an international summit, and following a drug convoy at night at 200 km/h on a highway,” Rousseau says. At the same time, the two- way transmissions associated with ground- connected electro-optical (EO) systems, GPS, satellite data, and moving maps are adding to complexity in the cockpit. “This is why today’s police units want a mission management system that is natively integrated into the aircraft, that centralizes all of the sensors, and which makes it possible to retransmit and receive all the information necessary for the mission whatever the format,” he said.
Meanwhile, digitalization refers to the trend for modern helicopters to be paperless environments. “Nowadays, a tablet has superseded the traditional flight bag for good,” Rousseau says. “These applications save time in maintenance operations, increase efficiency in planning and carrying out flights, and finally also improve flight safety.”
58 May/June 2020
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