Heli-One Norway delivers Swedish ISAF project

Heli-One has announced that three 332M1/HKP-10B aircraft under modification for the Swedish Air Force (SAF) have been delivered ahead of schedule.

"Congratulations to the Heli-One project team in Norway for delivering the ISAF project on target to our largest third-party customer Swedish Air Force," said Neil Calvert, President of Heli-One. "The extraordinary efforts the team has put in to deliver a project two months ahead of original planned delivery time shows the agility of our organization to both meet and exceed our customer's expectations."
 
Last summer SAF came to Heli-One with an urgent request to modify three 332M1s to meet a new requirement for medical and casualty evacuation missions in Afghanistan as part of the Swedish International Security Assistance Force.
 
Over the last 12 months, the Heli-One team in Stavanger, Norway has been co-operating with a SAF team to tailor a modification package that allows the aircraft to be quickly reconfigured to perform three roles in Afghanistan. They can now, within 30 minutes, change between a troop transport version, a medical evacuation version and a casualty evacuation version.
 
The full scope of modifications has seen numerous Heli-One departments, including Design and Engineering, Component Workshops, and Base Maintenance, supporting the project with nose to tail service – including design, production, installation, testing and documentation support.
 
These aircraft are now able to perform all mission requirements in total darkness. All external lights have a NVIS mode setting and the cabin has window blanks that will stop any light emitting from the cabin with full white lights on for medical care of casualties.
 
For medical care of casualties, a medical rack will provide the SAF medic the equipment required for the job, all within arm's reach. Ballistic protection has also been added, reducing the risk of having oxygen bottles in the aircraft during this kind of mission.
 
For casevac missions, SAF are now able to carry four casualties on any type of NATO stretchers, with a total loading time of less than four minutes, reducing the time on ground to pick up casualties.

Source: Heli-One/CHC