Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence Airport in Marignane,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, near

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

. The main facilities of Airbus Helicopters are at its headquarters in Marignane, France, and in Donauwörth, Germany, with additional production plants in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

( Helibras), Australia,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The company was renamed from Eurocopter to Airbus Helicopters on 2 January 2014. In 2018, Airbus delivered 356 helicopters, a 54% share of the civil or parapublic market over five seats.

History

Airbus Helicopters was formed in 1992 as Eurocopter Group, through the merger of the helicopter divisions of Aérospatiale and

DASA ''Dasa'' ( sa, दास, Dāsa) is a Sanskrit word found in ancient Indian texts such as the '' Rigveda'' and '' Arthasastra''. It usually means "enemy" or "servant" but ''dasa'', or ''das'', also means a "servant of God", "devotee," " votary" or ...

. The company's heritage traces back to Blériot and Lioré et Olivier in France and to Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulf in Germany. Airbus Helicopters and its predecessor companies have established a wide range of helicopter firsts, including the first production turboshaft-powered helicopter (the Aérospatiale Alouette II of 1955); the introduction of the Fenestron shrouded tail rotor (on the Gazelle of 1968); the first helicopter certified for full flight in icing conditions (the AS332 Super Puma, in 1984); the first production helicopter with a Fly-by-wire control system (the NHIndustries NH90, first flown in full FBW mode in 2003); the first helicopter to use a Fly-by-light primary control system (an EC135 testbed, first flown in 2003); and the first ever landing of a helicopter on

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow ...

(achieved by an AS350 B3 in 2005). As a consequence of the merger of Airbus Helicopters' former parents in 2000, the firm is now a wholly owned subsidiary of

. The creation of what was then called EADS in 2000 also incorporated CASA of Spain, which itself had a history of helicopter-related activities dating back to

Talleres Loring Talleres Loring (Loring Workshops) was a Spanish aeronautical company founded by engineer and entrepreneur Jorge Loring after moving to Madrid. History A predecessor company, Loring Pujol y Cia, had been founded in Barcelona by Jorge Lorin ...

, including local assembly of the

Bo105 The Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo 105 is a light, twin-engine, multi-purpose helicopter developed by Bölkow of Ottobrunn, West Germany. It was the first light twin-engine helicopter in the world, and the first rotorcraft that could perform a ...

. Today, Airbus Helicopters has four main plants in Europe ( Marignane and La Courneuve in France, and Donauwörth and Kassel in Germany), plus 32 subsidiaries and participants around the world, including those in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia, Albacete, Spain and Grand Prairie, USA. Since approximately 2006, Eurocopter has been involved in the planning for the proposed pan-European Future Transport Helicopter project. As of 2014, more than 12,000 Airbus Helicopters were in service with over 3,000 customers in around 150 countries. Eurocopter sold 422 helicopters in 2013 and delivered 497 helicopters that year. In 2014, AH built a concrete cylinder for testing helicopters before first flight.

Historical emblems

Historical emblems of the company: File:Eurocopter logo (1992–2000).svg, 1992–2000 File:Eurocopter logo (2000–2010).svg, 2000–2010 File:Eurocopter company logo.svg, 2010–2014 File:Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter Group) logo.png, 2014–2017 File:Airbus Logo 2017.svg, alt=Airbus common logo since June 2017, 2017–present

Products

Some of the helicopters were renamed in 2015, resembling Airbus airplane naming. When the division changed its name from Eurocopter Group to Airbus Helicopters in 2014 the trade names of the products were changed (applied by 1 January 2016) to reflect this. Suffixes, as well as the differentiation for single or twin engines, were no longer to be used. Military versions were to be symbolized by the letter M. The only exceptions to this new branding were the AS365, the AS565, the Tiger and the NH90, which will keep their current names.

Projects

* X³ rotorcraft – hybrid helicopter with two forward propellers, which achieved a 255-knot speed milestone in level flight in June 2011. * Airbus Helicopters X6 – Two year concept study into the possible launch of an 11.5t helicopter to replace the H225. * Airbus RACER, experimental high-speed compound helicopter developed from the X³, targeting a 2020 first flight. * Airbus CityAirbus, electrically powered

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...

aircraft demonstrator, intended for an air taxi role.

Gallery

File:Patrulla Aspa (9543712579).jpg, H120/ EC120 Colibri File:Eurocopter AS-350B-3 Ecureuil, Heli-Linth AN1174998.jpg, H125/ AS350 Écureuil
''H125M/ AS555 Fennec'' File:Eurocopter 130 SP-MTB 3 (modified).jpg, H130/ EC 130 File:YSP EC135P2 JA02YP Maishima 20081018-001 (cropped).jpg, H135/ EC135
''H135M/ EC635'' File:EC145 STAT Med (remix).jpg, H145/ EC145
H145M/EC645/

UH-72 The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed main rotor. The UH-72 is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145, built by American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters, Inc.), a ...

File:04MAR - Formaiton Flight Nikon -8 (25576437476).jpg,

AS365 The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS365 Dauphin (''Dolphin''), also formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed ...

Dauphin
'' AS565 Panther/ HH-65/ Z-9'' File:Eurocopter EC-155B-1 AN1222412.jpg, H155/ EC155 File:Airbus Helicopters H160 (cropped).jpg,

H160 The Airbus Helicopters H160 (formerly X4) is a medium utility helicopter being developed by Airbus Helicopters. Formally launched at Heli-Expo in Orlando, Florida on 3 March 2015, it is intended to replace the AS365 and EC155 models in the firm ...

File:Airbus H175 G-EMEC MG 6429 (29535221148).jpg, H175 File:Eurocopter EC-665 Tiger UHT, Germany - Army AN1547187.jpg, ''

EC-665 The Eurocopter Tiger is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter which first entered service in 2003. It is manufactured by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter), which arose from the merger of Aérospatiale's and DASA's respective helic ...

Tiger'' File:AS332M1 Super Puma - RIAT 2014 (center).jpg, H215/ AS332 Super Puma
''H215M/ AS532 Cougar'' File:78+29 German Army NHIndustries NH90 TTH ILA Berlin 2016 19.jpg, '' NH90'' File:EC-725 Caracal - RIAT 2009 (484151112) (center).jpg, H225/

EC225 The Airbus Helicopters H225 (previously Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma) is a long-range passenger transport helicopter developed by Eurocopter as the next generation of the civilian Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma, Super Puma family. It is a twin-engin ...

Super Puma
''H225M/ EC725 Caracal''

References

Note

External links

*
Airbus Corporate Helicopters

Helibras

Airbus Helicopters timeline at Helis.com
* {{Authority control Airframe manufacturers of Europe Multinational aircraft manufacturers Defence companies of Germany Military vehicle manufacturers Defence companies of France Helicopter manufacturers of Germany Helicopter manufacturers of France German companies established in 1992 French companies established in 1992