Bell receives order for four more Bell 412EP helicopters from the Argentine air force
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. –Military helicopter designers at Bell Helicopter are building four Bell 412EP helicopters for the air force of Argentina under terms of a $27.3 million foreign military sales (FMS) order announced last week.
Officials of the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., are asking Bell Helicopter, a Textron company in Fort Worth, Texas, to provide the four Bell 412EP (enhanced performance) helicopters, as well as training for the Argentine air force.
The Bell 412 is a twin-engine utility helicopter of the Bell Helicopter Huey family. Unlike its predecessor, the Bell 212 Huey, the Bell 412 has a composite four-blade rotor.
The enhanced-performance version of the Bell 412, which is in current production, has a dual digital automatic flight control system and Pratt & Whitney PT6T-3D Twin Pac jet engines with average 166,700 hours of flight time between in-flight engine shutdowns, Bell Helicopter officials say.
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Company officials describe the Bell 412EP as a daily workhorse that performs reliably in some of the most extreme climates around the world. Its wide-opening doors are 7.7 feet wide to accommodate forklift loadings into a 220 cubic-foot cabin. The helicopter can be configured to accommodate as many as 14 passengers.
The helicopter can fly as fast as 140 knots, and cruise at 122 knots. It can fly as far as 357 nautical miles or 3.8 hours without refueling. It can carry as much as 5,000 pounds of passengers, cargo, and fuel, and can accommodate a cargo hook.
The Bell 412EP has a modern glass cockpit that accommodates two crew members and has an option for single pilot instrument flight rules (IFR) operation.
Its three-axis dual digital automatic flight control system (AFCS) enables operation while reducing the pilot workload. Cockpit avionics include multi-functional displays, VHF antenna, VHF transceiver, magnetic compass, distance measuring equipment (DME), transponder, airspeed indicator, and altimeter.
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The cockpit optionally can be fitted with four-axis dual digital AFCS, helicopter terrain avoidance warning system (H-TAWS), automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), air data computer, emergency locator transmitter, and traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS).
More than Over 700 Bell 412s, including 260 by AgustaWestland, have been built, Bell Helicopter officials say. On this order Bell Helicopter will do the work in Fort Worth, Texas, and will be finished in June 2018.
For more information contact Bell Helicopter online at www.bellhelicopter.com, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at http://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
