ANAHEIM, California – Airbus is set to establish a final assembly line for the company’s H145 twin-engine light helicopter in the U.S.

The new line is located at Airbus’ facility in Columbus, Mississippi, and will be capable of delivering 16 helicopters a year in 2025. It is already in the process of completing the first of two H145s destined for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Florida and is targeted to meet growing U.S. market interest in the aircraft, Bart Reijnen, president of Airbus Helicopters Inc., told journalists on the first day of the Heli-Expo here on Feb 27.

He said the decision had been made after a review of the OEM’s industrial capacity in the U.S.

“We took the decision in the group based on the capabilities which Columbus has demonstrated on Lakota,” Reijnen said. “It is a strong message for Columbus and confidence in the capabilities that we have there.”

After a record year of sales for the H145 in 2023, which saw 186 aircraft ordered by customers, there is an “ambition to double production,” of the platform, Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even told journalists. “The decision we took is based on the potential we see in North America.”

The company’s industrial strategy calls for making “good use of all our different disparate capacity” to cope with production of the H145, he said.

In the event’s first few hours, Airbus reported it had secured firm orders for seven H145s from German air ambulance operator DRF Air Rescue.

The Columbus facilities have built 480 UH-72 Lakota Light Utility Helicopters for the U.S. Army. It has also built around 25 EC145e aircraft for specialist EMS operator and completion firm Metro Aviation. More recently, the Columbus line built 18 UH-72Bs, a version of the five-blade H145, for the U.S. Army. It is also continuing to assemble H125 single-engine light helicopters for the U.S. market.

“This is another step to be even more close to our local customers by offering them a local product built in the U.S.,” Reijnen said.