Eurocopter and Kawasaki Heavy Industries have signed a cooperation agreement to extend their partnership on the BK117/EC145 helicopter program by 15 years at a ceremony at the Farnborough Airshow.
“The cooperation between KHI and Eurocopter in Germany works very smoothly despite the long distance, time zone difference and cultural differences,” Eurocopter president and CEO, Lutz Bertling said. “The extension of our contract by another 15 years underlines the success story of our joint product.”
The partnership started in 1977 with the development of the BK117 which first flew in 1979. The ‘BK’ was developed in to the EC145 (or BK117 C-2) which entered service in 2000, and today the machine is produced in Germany and Japan, and in the US as the UH-72A for the US Army.
