San Diego Police Department is poised to acquire three new Airbus H125 helicopters to complete a fleet renewal process that will replace its aging Airbus AS350 B3s.
The $16 million acquisition received the green light from city council in early August 2023. It authorizes the city to purchase two H125 aircraft in the 2024 fiscal year, with the third aircraft to be purchased in the 2025 fiscal year.
If all goes according to plan, these new platforms will join one H125 already in service with the police department’s Air Support Unit, which was purchased in December 2019 and delivered in 2020, per a city staff report.
The transaction includes anticipated trade-in value of about $800,000 for each of the B3 aircraft, which the police department acquired in 2004 and 2005. Each of the legacy aircraft has about 13,000 hours of flight time.
The San Diego air support unit averages over 2,800 flight hours per year, city officials said.
A fleet analysis pointed to increasing maintenance costs and extended out-of-service time as reasons not to retain the existing fleet. The city opted to replace the fleet in phases, with Airbus providing the airframes and managing completion of the new H125s.
Hangar One Avionics and Maintenance of Carlsbad, California, has been tapped to undertake the aircraft completion work under supervision by Airbus, per the report.
The new H125s will undergo a mission configuration installation process that includes a public address (PA) system, spotlight, radios, navigation equipment and wiring installation.
Payment for the new aircraft will be provided over a 10-year period.
Annual maintenance costs for the legacy AS350 B3 helicopters have risen to $1.6 million, according the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Maintenance for the new H125s is projected to be a “small fraction of the costs for each of the three older models,” the paper reported, citing comments from San Diego Police Lt. Rick Aguilar.
Airbus won the contract in a competitive bid. Its agreement with the city required the acceptance of trade-in aircraft.
