Kawasaki and Airbus Helicopters Reaches Two Thousand Total BK117 Helicopter Deliveries
Dec. 23, 2024
Right: Hiroyoshi Shimokawa (Senior Managing Executive Officer, President of Aerospace Systems Company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.).
Left: Bruno Even (CEO, Airbus Helicopters SAS). © Airbus Helicopters
Tokyo, December 23, 2024 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today its achievement of 2,000 cumulative deliveries and 8 million flight hours for the BK117-series helicopter. To celebrate the occasion, Kawasaki and Airbus Helicopters SAS held a ceremony on December 4 at the Airbus Helicopters plant in Donauwörth, Germany. Senior executives from both companies attended the ceremony to celebrate the success of the BK117 series and the strong alliance between Kawasaki and Airbus Helicopters spanning a period of roughly 50 years.
The BK117 is a medium-sized, twin-engine helicopter jointly developed and manufactured through international collaboration between the two companies. It is used around the world for a wide range of purposes, including emergency medical services, law enforcement, firefighting, disaster relief, broadcasting, and personnel and cargo transport. Following the first BK117 delivery in 1983, a total of 1,000 BK117s were delivered to customers over a three-decade span. Over the following decade, continual improvements were made to the BK117, and its delivery total grew to 2,000 worldwide thanks to customer appreciation of the companies’ outstanding technological strengths and trustworthy products and services, marking an important milestone for the helicopter series.
Moving forward, Kawasaki will continue working with Airbus Helicopters to make performance improvements to the BK117, and developing new equipment and components for various applications. Furthermore, Kawasaki will leverage strong customer trust fostered through successful deliveries in the past, as well as the company’s comprehensive customer support system encompassing everything from development to manufacturing, sales and after-sales services, in the pursuit of further business both domestically and internationally for the BK117 D-3, which has proven extremely popular in its markets, as well as helicopter flight operations that are more comfortable and safer than ever before.
| Brief History of the BK117 Helicopter Series | |
|---|---|
| 1977 | Kawasaki signs joint development agreement with West German company Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), now known as Airbus Helicopters |
| 1983 | First BK117-series helicopter delivered |
| 2001 | BK117 C-2 released with major cabin space upgrades |
| 2012 | One-thousandth BK117 helicopter delivered |
| 2016 | BK117 D-2 released with a new engine and tail rotor improvements |
| 2019 | Latest-model BK117 D-3 released with reduced airframe vibration, increased main blade count (from four to five) and other improvements |
| 2024 | Two-thousandth BK117 helicopter delivered |
Related Links
Kawasaki Online Media “ANSWERS”: High-Performance, Twin-Engine, Multipurpose Helicopter BK117 D-3
hhttps://answers.khi.co.jp/en/mobility/20210131e-01/
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