The versatile twin-engine helicopter flying air ambulance, police, offshore and light military missions worldwide. Its five-bladed bearingless main rotor and spacious, flat-floored cabin have made it one of the world's most widely used helicopters for emergency medical services and utility work. Developed by Airbus Helicopters.
The versatile twin-engine helicopter flying air ambulance, police, offshore and light military missions worldwide. Developed by Airbus Helicopters.
Photo: Reinhold Möller Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSee Specifications for full detail.
The Airbus H145 is a twin-engine light utility helicopter built primarily for emergency medical services, police and military use. More than 1,700 have been delivered to operators in over 60 countries, making it one of the best-selling helicopters of its class.[1]
Its enclosed Fenestron tail rotor and, from 2020, a five-bladed main rotor give it an unusually quiet, smooth ride suited to rooftop helipads. A militarised version, the H145M, is flown by German special forces and, from 2026, Belgium's armed forces.[2]
The H145 is a Franco-German marriage: the fuselage lineage of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm's beloved BK117 (itself a German-Japanese joint venture) crossed with the technology of Eurocopter's EC135 - above all its Fenestron shrouded tail rotor and modern avionics. Launched as the EC145 in the late 1990s, it flew in 1999 with the mission already fixed: emergency services first.[3]
The definitive form arrived in 2014 as the H145 (EC145 T2): Arriel 2E engines with dual-channel FADEC, the Fenestron, and the Helionix avionics suite with four-axis autopilot - a cockpit designed around single-pilot IFR in bad weather at night, because that is precisely when air ambulances fly.[1]
Everything about the H145 serves the rooftop: a compact footprint, the enclosed Fenestron that lets ground crews work safely around a turning tail, twin-engine Category A performance that guarantees a safe fly-away if one engine quits at the worst moment, and wide clamshell rear doors that load a stretcher straight in. Cabin, noise and safety - the air-ambulance trinity - drove every trade.[1]
The 2020 five-bladed main rotor was the boldest update: a bearingless design that cut vibration to near-jet smoothness, added 150 kg of useful load, and simplified maintenance by deleting hinges and dampers outright. Existing four-bladed fleets can retrofit - and many have, one rotor set at a time.[1]
The H145's beat is civilisation's emergencies: it is the backbone of helicopter EMS in Europe and beyond (Germany's ADAC and DRF fleets alone number dozens), a standard police helicopter from Bavaria to Brazil, and a specialist in the vertical world - Swiss and Nepali operators fly rescue at altitudes where twins rarely venture, and offshore wind-farm crews ride H145s to turbines in the North Sea.[3]
The military H145M carries the same DNA to darker work: Germany's KSK special forces took it first in 2015, and orders have snowballed - Hungary, Serbia, Luxembourg, Germany's own up-to-82-aircraft light-helicopter program, and Belgium, whose first of up to 20 H145Ms arrived in June 2026. Fast-roping beams, gun pods and guided rockets (the HForce kit) turn the air ambulance's airframe into a light gunship.[2]
The U.S. Army, in its way, made the type American: the UH-72 Lakota - a militarised EC145 built in Mississippi - has trained essentially every new Army helicopter pilot since the mid-2010s, nearly 500 airframes strong.[4]
The family tree keeps branching: BK117 to EC145 to H145 to the five-bladed standard, with the UH-72A/B Lakota as the American limb and the H145M as the armed one. Over 1,700 of the lineage fly, with the H145 line at Donauwörth pacing steady triple-digit annual deliveries as EMS fleets renew and military orders stack.[1]
Its next frontier is propulsion: H145s serve as Airbus's testbed for sustainable fuels and hybridisation studies - the quiet rooftop helicopter positioning to stay welcome in the noise-and-carbon-conscious cities that are its habitat.[1]
The H145 is proof that 'iconic' need not mean combat: no helicopter of its generation has saved more lives per airframe, and for millions of Europeans its red or yellow liveries are simply what the emergency services look like.[1]
Its industrial lesson endures too: the BK117 joint venture's 1970s bones, continuously modernised rather than replaced, now underpin one of the best-selling helicopter families in history.[3]
Very commonly seen on Flightradar24, particularly as air ambulance helicopters operating short local flights near hospitals in Europe and North America, and as offshore transport helicopters flying to oil-and-gas platforms; its five-bladed rotor and twin-engine layout are visually distinctive.
| Performance | |
| Max Speed | 146 kn (168 mph / 270 km/h) |
|---|---|
| Cruise SpeedCruise Speed — The economical speed an aircraft sustains for the bulk of a flight - lower than maximum speed, chosen for the best balance of time and fuel burn. Glossary → | ~150 mph |
| RangeRange — How far an aircraft can fly without refuelling. Quoted figures vary with payload, speed and reserves - see also ferry range and combat radius. Glossary → | 404 mi on standard internal fuel at sea level |
| Service CeilingService Ceiling — The highest altitude at which an aircraft can still climb at a useful rate (typically 100 ft/min). Above it, the air is too thin to keep climbing meaningfully. Glossary → | 20,000 ft |
| Hover Ceiling (IGE/OGE) | IGE: 12,490 ft; OGE: 8,955 ft |
| Airframe & Weight | |
| Main Rotor Diameter | 35 ft 5 in |
| Length | 44 ft 5 in overall, rotors turning (Airbus and other primary sources only publish this one figure, not a separate fuselage-only length) |
| Height | 12 ft 2 in |
| WeightMTOW — Maximum Take-Off Weight - the heaviest an aircraft is certified to be at the start of its take-off run, including fuel, crew, payload and the aircraft itself. Glossary → | empty: 4,178 lb; MTOW: 8,378 lb |
| Rotor Blades | 5 main; Fenestron shrouded fan tail rotor (not a conventional open tail rotor) |
| Power & Payload | |
| Engines | 2 x Safran Arriel 2E turboshaft engines, 894 shp each |
| Crew | 1-2 pilots; cabin for up to 10 passengers (8 in standard configuration) or 2 stretcher patients plus medical crew in air ambulance configuration |
| CapacityPayload — Everything an aircraft is carrying that isn't the aircraft or its fuel: passengers, cargo, or weapons. Payload and fuel usually trade off against each other. Glossary → | Up to 10 passengers, or 2 stretcher patients and 3 medical crew (HEMS configuration) |
| External Load | 3,527 lb maximum cargo hook load |
| Program & Service | |
| Manufacturer | Airbus Helicopters |
| Origin | Germany |
| First Flight | February 27th 2014 |
| Service Entry | January 1st 2015 |
| Number Built | 1,600 |
| Unit Cost | ~$8.5M (H145 civilian utility configuration, 2026 dollars) |
3 notable events involving the H145, 2023 to 2025, accounting for 10 deaths. Curated rather than exhaustive.
A Hungarian Air Force H145M crashed under unclear circumstances near Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia, during a two-aircraft training mission. Two of the three occupants were killed.
A Luxembourg Air Rescue H145 struck a roadside tree branch with its rotor during takeoff from an emergency-response site, causing a hard landing on the road. All four occupants were uninjured but the aircraft was substantially damaged.
A BK117 D-3 (H145-family) helicopter operating for PT Eastindo Air lost contact during a flight over South Kalimantan and was later found crashed in forest. All eight occupants were killed; the cause remains under investigation.
| H145 (civil) | Standard civilian utility version used for air ambulance, corporate, offshore and law enforcement missions. |
| H145M | Lightly armed military variant with optional weapons pylons, used for light attack, special forces and utility missions. |
| UH-72A/B Lakota (US Army) | US Army-designated variant based on the EC145/H145 family, used for training, homeland security and light utility roles. |
| H145 5-bladed upgrade | Retrofit rotor upgrade path allowing operators of earlier 4-bladed EC145 T2 aircraft to convert to the improved 5-bladed configuration. |
Source: Airbus
Source: Airbus
Source: Airbus
Numbered as cited in the Overview article. Click a reference to see where it's used.
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