Airbus Helicopters announced on April 25, 2018, that it had sold one additional H225 Super Puma helicopter to the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). This brings the total number of H225s operated by the JCG to ten and by March 2021 Airbus Helicopters said that the Super Puma fleet (AS332s and H225s) would grow to 13 units, making the service the largest operator of the family in Japan.
The new helicopter will be used for security enforcement, territorial coast activities and humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations in Japan, in line with the rest of the JCG fleet. Olivier Tillier, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters in Japan, said: “We are honoured by the renewed H225 order from our customer of 25 years, as it bears testament to the quality of our longstanding partnership’.
A total of 21 Super Puma family helicopters are operated in the civil and parapublic sectors in the country, in addition to Japan’s MoD.
The JCG operates its AS332 and H225 fleet from Tokyo-Haneda and Osaka-Kansai International Airports, and embarked onboard some of its large patrol vessels. Nigel Pittaway
