SOFEX NEWS: Royal Jordanian Air Pressure Inks Deal for Bell 505 Helicopters
Bell Helicopter
AQABA, Jordan — The federal government of Jordan on Nov. 1 signed a contract with Bell Textron to supply 10 helicopters that the nation will use to coach its air power pilots.
Patrick Moulay, Bell’s senior vp of worldwide enterprise, confirmed the sale of the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X plane after a non-public signing ceremony on the sidelines of the SOFEX convention being held this week in Aqaba, Jordan.
It is a direct army sale, relatively than overseas army sale, which must be accepted by Congress and the State Division, he mentioned. He declined to reveal the quantity of the contract.
The Bell 505 Jet Ranger X gentle single-engine plane was first accepted for flight by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2017. Since then, the Fort Value, Texas-based firm has offered 400 of the plane, a Bell press launch mentioned.
This isn’t Bell’s first Center East coaching helicopter sale. A non-public flight academy primarily based within the United Arab Emirates bought 12 of the 505s in 2019, Moulay famous.
“It is a renewal of our relationship with the dominion,” he mentioned.
The Jordanian army’s final main buy from Bell got here within the late Eighties when it acquired 24 AH-1F Cobras from the corporate and a further 9 surplus plane from the U.S. Military. It nonetheless maintains one squadron of Cobras.
Whereas a number of U.S. dignitaries have been available for the signing ceremony, together with U.S. Ambassador Henry Wooster, the plane shall be assembled in Bell’s Mirabel, Quebec, facility in Canada, Moulay mentioned.
Together with a number of U.S. police forces, the Bell 505 has been bought by the Indonesian Navy, Japanese Coast Guard, Jamaican Protection Pressure and Montenegrin Air Pressure.
The utility helicopter can carry as much as 4 passengers, has a prime velocity of 125 knots, a 306 nautical-mile vary and an endurance of about 4 hours, in line with Bell reality sheets.
The helicopter additionally includes a “absolutely digitally managed engine” and “superior avionics that dramatically scale back pilot workload and maximize security in a mess of operational situations,” the press launch mentioned.
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