Dubai Airshow 2023: First Bell 505 training helicopters delivered to Royal Jordanian Air Force
The RJAF ordered Bell 505s in 2022. (Photo: Bell Helicopter)
Jordan ordered ten helicopters 12 months ago and joins Montenegro and the army and navy of South Korea as military operators of the 505.
The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) has taken delivery of its first five Bell 505 training helicopters, ordered in 2022 and announced at the SOFEX exhibition in Aqaba, Jordan in November of that year.
The order includes aircraft delivery complete with a flight training device and a comprehensive computer-based training package to support basic and advanced rotorcraft flight instruction at the King Hussein Air College in Mafraq.
The Bell 505 first flew in 2014 and has mainly been built for the civilian market. The RJAF joins other operators including Horizon International Flight Academy in the UAE which operates 12 Bell 505s, and the Kingdom of Bahrain which took delivery of three aircraft in early 2023 with more than 30 of the type operated throughout the Middle East and Africa.
Additionally, it has chalked up a number of military sales, with orders from Indonesia (two), Jamaica, (six), Japan (two) and Montenegro (two) and South Korea (50) since 2020. Shephard Defence Insight estimates the unit cost of the aircraft at $1,000,000.
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