Japan Aerospace (JAC) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) have signed an agreement with Dart Aerospace to design and certify a fire attack system for the new five-blade Airbus Helicopters H145. KHI, which will assemble the new five-blade H145 in Japan, is partnering with JAC to help test, certify, and install the tank with Dart on the H145.
Based on the Dart 311GII designed for the EC145/Kawasaki BK117C-2 helicopter, the H145 system features a lightweight, belly-mounted 240-gallon main tank, 14-gallon foam tank, 10-foot-long snorkel, and five-inch hover pump with a 450 gallon per minute flow rate. It can deliver multiple drops with one tank load.
The partnership to develop the system came at the request of Dart representative JAC to market a fire attack system for the H145 helicopter in Japan. FAA certification for the H145 fire attack system is expected by the end of this year, followed by Japanese JCAB approval.
“This agreement not only creates opportunities for new markets that operate this high-performing aircraft, but it also expands Dart’s portfolio of products to another popular aircraft model,” said Dart v-p of sales Steve Ghaleb. “This is another example of Dart’s longstanding history of partnerships with our clients to collaboratively find solutions for their missions.”