H145M – PROVEN, MATURE AND IN SERVICE

Team nightjar

Team Nightjar brings together more than 20 Australian partners to deliver a proposed solution to the Project LAND 2097 Phase 4 requirement.
 
The Team combines Australia’s best industry capabilities and academia in responding to the Commonwealth of Australia’s request for proposal for a 4-tonne class, rapidly deployable, multi-role helicopter for the Australian Special Forces.
 
Team Nightjar will be offering a fleet of the highly capable Airbus H145M and in-country support.

Australian Industry Capability

“We recognise the importance of working with Australian companies on this programme, with each partner offering niche capabilities to the Commonwealth. Building on Airbus’ established commitment to Australian industry, Team Nightjar will have a strong focus on Australian industrial support and innovation,” Andrew Mathewson, Managing Director of Airbus Australia Pacific. 
 
The local consortium will deliver world leading training solutions, empower indigenous participation, and enable rapid design and delivery enhancements throughout the programme’s lifetime.

Economic Benefits to Australia

With a clear commitment to invest in Australian-led innovation, the teaming proposal will offer to generate over AU$250 million of economic benefits and 170 jobs in the country.

The H145M

The Commonwealth is seeking a proven, mature and highly reliable off-the-shelf platform and robust support systems. The H145M is the latest member of the H145 family and has flown over 5.9 million hours with more than 1,400 aircraft in service globally across civil, parapublic and military domains. It is well supported by a mature global network. 
 
The H145M is an exemplar platform for light special operations and is a solid match for the Special Forces’ requirements, with proven capabilities for no-fail, high-readiness missions.
 
The light twin-engine aircraft is an operationally proven, affordable and low-risk option for Australia, complementing the MRH90 Taipan with improved mobility and situational awareness for special operations. By virtue of its compact size, the H145M will be optimised for operations within dense urban terrain and will be rapidly deployable via a C-17A Globemaster. 
 
The H145M is tried and tested and is gaining popularity among defence forces due to its excellent price-performance ratio and the short delivery time, counting military forces in Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Serbia and Thailand as customers.

Airbus’ presence in Australia

Airbus has nearly two decades of presence in Australia, building extensive local industrial capabilities and network, in support of the country’s defence and commercial aviation. With a strong local team of more than 1,500 employees working across 23 sites for civil and military fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft, the company has injected over A$1.7 billion of activities into the Australian aerospace industry, including A$100 million of direct investments from ARH Tiger and MRH90 projects.

The Nightjar

Australia’s smallest nocturnal bird of prey, the nightjar’s characteristics include agility, stealth through its compact size, excellent camouflage, silence in flight and non-reflective eyes. The nightjar is known to hunt in pairs, and catch prey on the wing, combing its heightened senses, agility, speed, power and focus – characteristics which are critical for Special Operations. With close resemblance to Airbus’ H145M, the Australian Nightjar is adopted as the inspiration for the team’s response to Project LAND 2097 Phase 4.

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