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By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) -Airbus Helicopters on Tuesday announced the launch of its first all-new helicopter in about a decade: a light, twin-engined model aimed initially at emergency services.
The H140 helicopter in the 3 metric ton class will enter service in 2028 and expand on the existing H135, the world's largest civil helicopter maker said.
Airbus said the new five-bladed helicopter would offer a bigger cabin than the H135 and would be powered by Safran's Arrius 2E engine.
The launch of a new helicopter follows an internal study code-named X8 aimed at preparing an eventual successor to the decades-old H135, industry sources said, though Airbus took pains not to rattle potential buyers of the existing model.
"Don't worry, we will continue to propose this helicopter...we want to continue to give choice," Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even told delegates at the Verticon event in Dallas, during a livestreamed ceremony.
The move comes two years after another coded project, X9, to develop a demonstrator for technologies to develop a successor to the best-selling and larger H145, first revealed by Reuters.
Successors to the H135 and eventually the H145 would regenerate the German side of Airbus Helicopters, formed from a 1992 merger between divisions of France's Aerospatiale and MBB of Germany to counter U.S. rivals led by Bell, Boeing and Sikorsky and originally called Eurocopter. Spain joined later.
For now, analysts say Airbus is being careful to balance the need to prepare for new products with continued solid demand for its existing light twin-engined portfolio, and is avoiding saying how the projects fit into future replacement plans.
Donauwoerth in Bavaria is home to the twin-engined H135 and H145, while other civil programmes focus mainly on Marignane, France, where Airbus Helicopters is based.
The H140 will be managed and assembled in Germany, though Airbus Helicopters increasingly uses a production philosophy pioneered by the larger jetliners division, which involves sites across Europe specialising in specific skills or manufacturing.
Airbus Helicopters is the European aerospace giant's smallest but most profitable division, as the main civil jet business tackles production snags and the defence and space division is dealing with cost overruns.
Divisional profit in Helicopters rose more than 11% last year as revenue rose 8%, outpacing other parts of the group.
(Reporting by Tim HepherEditing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)
