Romania has awarded, through the French procurement authority DGA, a contract for the delivery of twelve multipurpose helicopters of the Airbus H225M Caracal type. Airbus announced this on Wednesday. The deal is to be financed with funds from the SAFE program for low-interest EU loans to finance defense procurements. The Caracal, also known as the Super Cougar, are to replace in Romania part of the fleet produced there under license as the SA 330L Puma from IAR 330.
Romania had, during socialist times, in 1974, concluded a licensing agreement with the then French Puma manufacturer Aérospatiale and produced more than 160 aircraft for domestic use and export until 2008. The country’s air force operated 56 of them, the navy a further three. Among the larger foreign customers were Kenya, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates; in addition, Ivory Coast, the Congo, Lebanon and Pakistan received single-digit quantities.
Besides Romania, the Netherlands have also ordered
The Caracal is the military variant of the H225 Super Puma. With an empty weight of 5,300 kilograms and a maximum takeoff weight of 11,200 kilograms, it can carry up to 28 soldiers in addition to its two-to-three-person crew, or a payload of 5,670 kilograms. Two Turboméca Makila 2A1 shaft engines with 1,776 kilowatts of power give it a maximum speed of 175 knots (324 km/h) at a service ceiling of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) and a range of 500 nautical miles (926 kilometers).
Operators include, besides its home country France, also Brazil, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand and Hungary. Besides Romania, recently Iraq, Morocco as well as the Netherlands — for support of special forces — each ordered about a dozen aircraft. In total, around 350 have been produced to date.
