SHAH ALAM: The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is Asia’s highest Airbus’ H225M military flyer. From Airbus:
Kuantan, 23 February 2022 –Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) together with Airbus held a ceremony at the Kuantan Air Base to honour RMAF for being the H225M military operator that logged the highest accumulated number of flight hours in Asia.
The event was attended by Chief of Air Force, General Tan Sri Ackbal bin Hj Abdul Samad and Deputy Chief of Air Force, Lieutenant General Dato’ Sri Mohd Asghar Khan bin Goriman Khan. Vincent Dubrule, Head of Region, Airbus Helicopters Asia Pacific presented the Air Force Chief with the award to commemorate this milestone. Also present was Gerard Pau, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters Malaysia and Chief Operating Officer of Airbus Helicopters, Asia Pacific and Raymond Lim, Airbus Chief Country Representative Malaysia.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force’s H225M pilots who have achieved 2,000, 1,500, 1,000 and 500 flight hours respectively on the H225M helicopter were also presented with flight hour achievement awards at this memorable event.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force’s fleet of 12 H225M helicopters has been in service since 2012. Designed for the most demanding missions, these H225Ms have participated in various exercises and humanitarian missions, including flood rescue and lifesaving operations. Together they have achieved over 20,000 flight hours.
A combat-proven multi-purpose and versatile asset, the H225M enables military forces to deploy wherever and whenever needed. Currently, 125 H225Ms are in service across the world. Besides Malaysia, the H225M is relied upon by Brazil, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Kuwait, Singapore and Thailand to support their most demanding missions.
For the record, RMAF still called their H225M as the EC725 AP as it was under this name, the helicopters were contracted and delivered in 2012. That said it appears for the ceremony, RMAF used the H225M designation for the flight patches given to the crew, from both the No. 10 and No. 5 squadrons. No. 10 is based at Kuantan while No. 5 is flying out of Labuan airbase.
The EC725s are expected to continue with their high flight hours even with the introduction of the leased AW139s as RMAF also catered to the needs of other services.
It is sobering to note that new helicopters for RMAF is only expected to be funded in 2026, in the next Malaysian plan.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (15)
Thats what you get when you asked for 24 units and supplied only 12.
@Hasnan
Even with 24 units, our EC725 helicopter fleet will still exceed 20,000 accumulated hours as the taskings and requirements are still the same.
The cons are on average, our flight hours per airframe is higher, and might lead to more maintenance and early retirement.
Hassan,
Actually it depends. The release mentioned ''Asia'' but if it's in SEA the RMAF is the only air arm whose main rotary type is the Cougar. Others have the Cougar but they also operate other types as well, thus their Cougars might have accumulated less flight hours.
IKR..Like our scorpenes and A400Ms.Both clocked among the highest operating hours..Indicating two things : They are good/shrewd buys and we lack the quantity to rotate them
Idiocy of our bean counters and the royals in MinDef never cease to amaze😁
Doing the maths, I have come up with:
- each helicopter is used about 3.2 hours per week.
- is that heavy or average usage?
Average really
Oil and gas EC225 helicopters fly that amount of hours daily, not weekly.
The Caracals are way too precious & OP for it to be used that often on utility runs but TUDM has no choice, its the only utility chopper available for all 3 services. Goes to show how urgent to fill the gap left by Nuris.
Not the first time I stressed on the need to fill our need for utility choppers firstly before we buy others, ie LCA/LIFT, MPA, MRCA or whatnot. This is the reason why. The high mileage usage of these choppers aren't something we should be proud of really.
Tom Tom - ' is that heavy or average usage'
What do you think?
During the Emergency it was common for Nuri pilots to clock that [and more] daily but operational.circumstances have changed.
Also, whatever hours the Cougars accumulate has to be seen in the context that there are only 12 and there is no other type operated [in contrast with other regional air arms which operate Cougars alongside other types]'
Therefore can we justify more EC725 for the RMAF? That’s why the AW139 are good for the smaller missions, just like you don’t need your big SUV for quick trips to the supermarket.