Airbus Helicopters achieved factory acceptance of the last six Airbus EC135T2+s designated for the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS), the company said on Wednesday. From the time the contract was signed, it took just two years to deliver the full fleet of 15 Airbus EC135T2+s.

The contract is for the JP9000 Phase 7 HATS project, for which Boeing Defence Australia is the primary contractor. The project is a joint helicopter training program for Navy and Army aircrews. Along with the 15 Airbus helicopters, those training will use flight simulators and a sea-going training vessel, equipped with a flight deck. Thales Australia is also a partner on the contract, supplying the simulators and synthetic training devices.

The EC135T2+ is a member of the Airbus H135 family. It is a light, twin-engine rotorcraft with a glass cockpit and multi-axis autopilot and is being selected as a military training platform in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Japan and the UK as well.