FlightGlobal
• Dominic Perry
Romania has signed a contract for 12 Airbus H225M multirole helicopters, firming up a procurement approved in July and valued at an estimated €757 million ($845 million). The aircraft will begin replacing the country’s IAR-330 Puma fleet for conventional and special operations, giving Airbus a major military helicopter order in Romania.
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Airbus Helicopters has flown a new series of tests with its high-speed Racer demonstrator, including low-level assessment by military pilots. The flights were intended to demonstrate the compound helicopter’s performance in challenging operational conditions.
The upgrade replaces the H135’s existing battery with a lithium battery across all model variants. EASA approval clears the modification for use in the aircraft, with Heli Austria and Heli Werk presenting it as a performance and efficiency improvement.
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Romania has signed a contract for 12 Airbus H225M multirole helicopters, firming up a procurement approved in July and valued at an estimated €757 million ($845 million). The aircraft will begin replacing the country’s IAR-330 Puma fleet for conventional and special operations, giving Airbus a major military helicopter order in Romania.
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Airbus is preparing its next-generation single-aisle program for an eventual production rate of about 100 aircraft per month, a step-change industrial target that would substantially exceed the output planned for the current A320neo family. The figure signals the scale of manufacturing capacity envisaged for the successor program.
Airbus Defence and Space and CenSec, a Danish business cluster representing companies and researchers in defense, space and security, have signed a partnership agreement to expand cooperation and supply-chain ties. The available reports do not specify the agreement’s projects, investment or timetable.
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KLM has taken delivery of its first A350-900 in Toulouse, introducing the Airbus widebody into a long-haul fleet that has been dominated by Boeing aircraft. The airline’s business-class seats are nearing certification but will be blocked on the aircraft’s initial flights, limiting the cabin configuration at entry into service.
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British Airways is redesigning its Airbus A380 cabins, removing 52 seats to add premium-economy capacity and create what it says will be the world’s largest business-class deck. The investment reflects the airline’s effort to prioritize higher-yield passengers at slot-constrained Heathrow, even as A380 production has ended and new widebodies face delays.
Spain has chosen the Airbus A321neo as the platform for its future Santiago II-SCAPA signals intelligence fleet. The three crewed aircraft are intended to restore the country’s airborne signals intelligence capability and, according to the reports, give Spain one of Europe’s most capable such fleets.
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