Germany has received the first of up to 82 Airbus Helicopters H145Ms for operation by its armed forces.
Ordered in late 2023 under Berlin’s LKH – or light combat helicopter – requirement, missions include training, reconnaissance, special forces operations and light attack.
Handed over at the airframer’s Donauworth site in southern Germany, the initial example will be used for training at the army’s Buckeburg base near Hanover.
Delivery of the first H145M LKH in the light-attack configuration is scheduled for 2025.
Berlin in December 2023 placed a firm order for 62 of the light-twin H145Ms, plus 20 options. Although all the helicopters are provisioned for the airframer’s HForce modular weapons system, only an undisclosed number will be armed.
In total, the German army will receive 57 helicopters, while the Luftwaffe’s special forces will receive five.
Germany already operates a fleet of 15 H145Ms in the special forces support role.
