Hong Kong-based Government Flying Service (GFS) has received three H175s in public services configuration, becoming the world’s first operator of this new variant which enlarges the H175 mission capacity to search and rescue (SAR), emergency medical services, law enforcement, firefighting as well as land and maritime border control operations. The aircraft were handed over on 18th June.

In 2015, GFS became the launch customer of the H175 in the public services version with an order for seven helicopters. The four remaining helicopters will be delivered before the end of the year.

GFS’s new H175 will progressively replace their current fleet of AS332 L2s and H155s, which currently provide 24-hour emergency support services from their base at Chek Lap Kok Airport.

The public service version of the H175 offers more than 20 cabin configurations which can be re-configured based on mission requirements. The aircraft features approximately seventy different types of optional equipment, including an electro-optical system for observation and tracking and a digital map display, both of which are managed from an operator’s console installed in the cabin.

Mission equipment also includes a dual hoist, a search light, an infrared camera, as well as a radioactivity detector, which is a GFS-specific equipment.

The Royal Thai Police took delivery of two H175s in October 2017, making it the first in the Asia-Pacific region to operate the rotorcraft.