Australia’s New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) Aviation Command has acquired three new Bell 429 helicopters to be used to support patrols, search and rescue, surveillance, and special operations across the state. The new helicopters are equipped with a suite of special mission equipment including a Trakka beam searchlight, FLIR HDc 380 camera system, advanced mapping systems, tactical radios, and a rescue hoist winch.
Funded by the $50 million Future Light Helicopter Program, the three rotorcraft will replace a mixed fleet of older Airbus single and light twin helicopters, and join the NSWPF’s existing fleet of two Bell 412s and three Cessna Caravans. The new 429s were assembled in Canada in 2020, before being delivered to the command’s airbase in Bankstown this year, where they will be maintained by the command’s full-time crew of on-site maintenance technicians.
The aviation command services NSWPF across an area of approximately 309,000 square miles in major land and sea operations, emergency rescues, major incident response, surveillance and reconnaissance, tactical operations, counter-terrorism, and organized crime operations/investigations.