MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard on Wednesday commissioned a second Airbus H145 helicopter that it can use for search and rescue missions and to deliver supplies during the pandemic.
The helicopter, with tail number CGH-1451, follows the commissioning of another H145 earlier in the year, which makes PCG "the first coast guard organization in the world to operate the multi-purpose H145," Airbus said in a separate press statement.
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The PCG said the new helicopter is equipped with "high frequency radios, emergency flotation gear, fast-roping, cargo sling, search light and electro-optical systems" that will help the Coast Guard in its search and rescue and maritime security and law enforcement operations.
The first H145 has already become "one of the most utilized PCG asset in transporting personal protective equipment (PPE) sets, medical supplies and medicines to far-flung communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic," PCG also said.
Posted by Coast Guard Aviation Force on Sunday, 19 April 2020
The new helicopter will be part of the Coast Guard Aviation Force.
"Philippine Coast Guard and Airbus go a long way back since the agency’s first BO105 in 1975," Airbus Helicopters Philippines managing director Lionel de Maupeou said.
"We are delighted that the coast guard has chosen the H145 to strengthen their parapublic fleet. The first H145 helicopter already operated by the coast guard, has proven itself and had taken on numerous humanitarian missions, including the delivery of personal protection equipment and essential supplies to frontliners in the Coast Guard District in Negros Occidental," he also said.