After the Aviation unit of the Slovenian police had retired their Agusta Bell AB-212 at the end of March after 42 years of work and it is now on display in the Pivka Military History Park, the crew of the Aviation Police Unit modernised its fleet with a new acquisition, Leonardo AW 169.
The ceremony, which took place at the headquarters of the Aviation Police Unit, was also attended by the Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs Hojs and the Director General of the Police dr. Anton Olaj, who wished the police officers successful and safe work with the new helicopter.
Both state secretaries Franc Kangler and Božo Predalič, Secretary General Benedikt Jeranko, Chief of Staff Branka Krajnc and Deputy Director General of the Police Danijel Žibret also attended the ceremony.
“We are extremely pleased with our new helicopter. As befits a new ‘partner’ in the team, we have already given him an affectionate name – Julka,”
Dejan Kink, Head of the Aviation Police Unit
According to Kink, the helicopter will primarily perform transport tasks and training for transport tasks, such as transporting police personnel, landing and evacuating combat groups, carrying out mountain rescues, guarding the state border and transporting equipment and external cargo.
Extremely powerful helicopter
The Leonardo AW 169 is a technologically advanced helicopter and meets all the requirements of the police to ensure its smooth operation and development of transport capabilities. It is a relatively new, extremely powerful helicopter.
The main advantages over other helicopters of the same class are high cruising speed, huge power reserve and flexibility of equipment for different tasks. It has a modern and most flexible passenger cabin in this class of helicopters and very good visibility from the helicopter.
It represents a new generation of modern helicopters that meet all current standards in aviation safety and noise. In practice, this means significantly better altitude performance, greater safety in the event of a single engine failure, and overflights on various tasks much faster.
It is used by various airlines and organisations in Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. In Austria, 18 were recently purchased for military purposes. Norway, the United Kingdom, Argentina and the United States have so far chosen this type of helicopter for police work.
