Aviation News Item: 06979

1st Apr 2010

Source: aero-news.net

First Of Three Helicopters To Be Assigned To Outer EU Border Duty
The Bulgarian Border Police took delivery of its first AW109 Power light twin helicopter during an official ceremony held at Sofia Airport Tuesday. This helicopter will provide air surveillance capability on the outer EU borders, since Bulgaria is expected to be a Schengen Zone Member starting from March 2011.

Two additional AW109 Powers were recently ordered by the Ministries of Finance and Interior of Bulgaria for the Bulgarian Border Police, further expanding the helicopter fleet of the service. The Bulgarian Border Police also bought an AW139 medium twin helicopter in late 2009.

The AW109 Power is equipped with mission-dedicated equipment including a NVG-compatible cockpit, moving map display, weather radar, searchlight, external loudspeaker, provision for FLIR, digital video downlink, video recorder and mission console. The ability to change the interior configuration provides versatility to support the range of law enforcement roles. With a maximum cruise speed of 154 kts and a range of 512 nm, the AW109 Power offers superior rapid reaction capabilities, area coverage and endurance. The AW109 Power law enforcement is designed to perform a wide range of security duties to meet the changing demands of law enforcement: patrol, surveillance and tactical operations, state border control, counter terrorism, search and rescue, armed interdiction and other homeland security missions.

Numerous law enforcement and security agencies around the world have chosen the AW109 Power to fulfill their requirements in various countries such as Japan, China, Italy, the USA, Latvia, Chile, United Kingdom and Slovenia. Over 470 helicopters have been sold in almost 50 countries worldwide to date to perform law enforcement, EMS, VIP/corporate transport and harbour pilot shuttle missions.

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