MARIGNANE, France, 18 July 2012. Eurocopter, an EADS company in Marignane, France, has sold another EC225 Super Puma medium-lift helicopter to the Tokyo Fire Department for fire fighting, emergency medical services, medevac, and search & rescue.
The purchase this month follows the acquisition the Tokyo Fire Department's first EC225 last December after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The EC225 helicopter avionics features four 6-by-8-inch multifunction displays, two 4-by-5-inch vehicle-monitoring liquid crystal displays (LCDs), one integrated standby display for speed, altitude and gyro horizon backup, a four-axis dual-duplex autopilot, enhanced ground proximity warning system, and TCAS 2.
The EC225, which has a gross-lift capacity of as much as 24,200 pounds, is from Eurocopter’s Super Puma family. Eurocopter has been providing fire-fighting helicopters to Japan since the first unit, a SA3160 Alouette III, was procured by the Tokyo Fire Department in 1967.
Since then, the Tokyo Fire Department has operated a Eurocopter-only fleet, which includes four medium-sized Dauphins and three medium-heavy Super Pumas. Japan has placed five orders for the EC225 in the past year for the Japan Ministry of Defense and Japan Coast Guard, in addition to the Tokyo Fire Department.
“The Tokyo Fire Department is one of the largest and most well-equipped fire departments in the world, covering the Tokyo prefecture which consists of urban environment with high-rise buildings, mountainous areas at the boundaries, as well as the Ogasawara group of 30 islands located 1,000 km south of Tokyo," says Stephane Ginoux, Eurocopter Japan CEO.
Together with the BK117 which was developed in cooperation with Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Eurocopter leads the fire-fighting segment with 85 percent market share in Japan today, Eurocopter officials say.
For more information contact Eurocopter online at www.eurocopter.com.
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