First flight of the Dolphin HH 65 for the United States Coast Guard powered by 2 Turbomeca Arriel 2C2 engines

Paris Air Show, 14 May 2003

Turbomeca and Eurocopter announce that the first flight of the USCG’s (United States Coast Guard) prototype helicopter the Dolphin HH 65, powered by 2 Turbomeca Arriel 2C2 engines, was successfully carried out on May 6, 2003, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA.

The first flight took place at the USCG’s Aircraft Repair and Supply Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA. This flight constitutes the latest phase of evaluating upgrades for the HH 65 to better meet the increasing requirements of its missions. It also, confirms the excellent performance of the Arriel 2C2 engine on the Dolphin HH 65.

The Arriel 2C2 was fully developed and certified by Turbomeca in July 2002 on the EC 155 B1 with a maximum power of 1054 hp. An engine package is now available for the USCG to retrofit their fleet of 95 HH65 Dolphins, and would provide future capability for the Dolphin to evolve to a five bladed rotor system. The Arriel 2C2 is the latest version of the Arriel family. The first deliveries were made to GFS (Hong-Kong), the launch
customer.

The 28 Arriel variants power modern helicopters such as Eurocopter’s EC 130, EC 145, EC 155, AS 350, and SA 365The Arriel has shown its reliability in a large variety of difficult missions, including missions for Law Enforcement, EMS, transporting corporate personnel, utility and offshore missions.

To date, more than 5500 Arriel engines have been produced by Turbomeca, totaling more than 15 million flight hours for more than 1100 customers in 140 countries.

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Turbomeca is the world leader in helicopter engine manufacturing. Since the company began operations, it has produced 49,000 turbine engines. With more than 2 000 customers over 140 countries, Turbomeca provides a wide range of service through 14 sites, 3 subsidiaries, 23 TurboSupport Centers, 32 repair centers and 90 Field representatives and mechanics. The corporate office is based in Bordes (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France) with a U.S. subsidiary in Grand Prairie,Texas. Turbomeca is part of the Snecma Group, an aerospace propulsion and equipment group. Microturbo, also a subsidiary of Turbomeca, is the European leader of turbojet engines for missiles, drones and auxiliary power units.

Eurocopter is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS. EADS is a global aerospace and defense leader, and the world's second largest in terms of revenues. EADS maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defense technologies, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. Its family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft maker Airbus; Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter manufacturer; Astrium, the space company and MBDA, the world's second largest missile company. EADS is also the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft programme. EADS has more than 70 facilities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. It is active in markets around the world, including the U.S. and Asia.

Bettina Frey
Tel: (33) 5 59 12 55 69
Fax: (33) 5 59 12 52 00
Email: bettina.frey@turbomeca.fr