Helibras, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus Helicopters, has completed the first stage of work aimed at integrating the MBDA AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile onto the Airbus Helicopters H225M rotorcraft being built for the Brazilian Navy.
Over three weeks of testing by Helibras, the team completed several simulated missile launches. This test phase is designed to verify the link between the missile launchers and the naval mission system installed in the helicopter, to test different modes of operation and validate flight-test instrumentation.
Sorties with the munitions installed will be performed in early 2016, Helibras says. The mission system for the 16 helicopters destined for the Brazilian Navy has been developed in Brazil by Helibras.
So far the service has received seven examples of the 11-ton rotorcraft, with the Brazilian Army and Air Force each having taken delivery of five helicopters from their respective orders for 16, records Flightglobal’s Fleets Analyzer database. An additional two aircraft for the latter service are operated in a VVIP transport configuration.
The successful systems integration also demonstrates the maturity of the Brazilian Navy’s H225M Naval Mission Systems development – a completely new configuration that was designed in Brazil by Helibras in collaboration with the customer, Airbus Helicopters and other partner companies.
December 10, 2015
