After announcing the purchase of 20 lighter 4-ton Airbus H145M multi-role helicopters (the type is also under discussion for our still unbudgeted Alouette replacement) together with the HForce procurement package in June, Airbus Helicopters has now announced that Hungary will also purchase 16 large H225M multi-role transport helicopters from Airbus as part of its 10-year armed forces modernization programme “Zrinyi 2026”.
The exact order volume has not been officially announced, but based on the sums known from other customers (see below) it will be in the region of 500 million euros. The 11-ton H225M is the last version of the former Super Puma family (which lost out to the Black Hawk in Austria at the time), formerly known as the EC725 or Cougar. France has been flying the best-equipped Caracal version with the Air Force and Special Forces since 2006 (22 units) and Hungary is now the eighth export customer of this type after Brazil (50), Mexico (12), Malaysia (12), Indonesia (6), Thailand (12), Kuwait (30) and Singapore (~16).
The H225Ms are to replace the outdated Russian Mi-8 and ageing Mi-17 helicopters of the Hungarian armed forces from 2023. Budapest is having the ordered H225Ms equipped with HForce and the latest communications equipment. They will be used for combat rescue, special operations and general transport missions at home and abroad. Airbus gives the maximum speed of the aircraft (without weapons or attachments that reduce the speed) as 175 knots (324 km/h). The avionics of the H225M also include a four-axis autopilot, as well as electro-optical/infrared sensors and corresponding helmet visors. The helicopter is capable of transporting up to 28 equipped soldiers.
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